What Doesn't Kill You
by LetSparksFly
Summary: Adele Gilbert Elena's Twin sister returns to Mystic Falls and she knows the Salvatores secret. How will she handle being thrown into the middle of all the drama? Damon/OC.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay so here it is. The first chapter of the remake of my story Fire Bomb, the name of the story may change in the future just a heads up. I'm not taking down the other version at this point but I will sometime in the near future. So tell me what you think please. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC. **

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Friday Night Bites <strong>

Caroline reaches a hand up slowly to the nightstand next to the bed hoping not to wake the sleeping form next to her. "Caroline…" Caroline glances over her shoulder at the male behind her and smiles softly. "Let me just see who it is." The male raises an eyebrow but nods and lays back placing his arms behind his head and staring up at the ceiling. Caroline picks up the buzzing phone from the nightstand and brings it towards her, laying back. She sits up, surprising the male next to her as her eyes were bugging at the phone. "Who is it?"

Caroline doesn't answer as she pushes the talk button and places the phone to her ear. "Hello…" Her voice is slow, almost hesitant. "Hey." The male glances at Caroline as she lets out a shirk of excitement. "Oh my god! I haven't heard from you all summer!" There's a laugh from the other end and the male sits up listening closely. "I decided I'd check in…I would have called Elena but I decided I'd have a better bet with calling you, you are after all the eyes and ears of the town." The voice was female, diffidently female. Sweet, the voice was sweet, but there was a husky edge to it that had him close to shuddering.

Caroline let out a laugh as she stands, grabbing her clothes from the floor. "Well I have a new boyfriend." There's a soft gasp from the other end of the phone and the male keeps his eyes on Caroline as she walks towards the bathroom. "What's his name?" Caroline smiles. "Damon…Damon Salvatore. He's the older brother of Elena's new boyfriend Stefan."

"So he's older? Is he cute?" Caroline glanced back at Damon before closing the bathroom door. "He's more than cute." Caroline giggles as she slips back into her clothes. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

"The day is already half over; I'm just going to have Damon drive me for Cheerleading practice." The girl on the other end sighs. "Whatever you say Caroline."

~x~

Her combat boots beat against the steel bleachers as she climbs to the very top passing by some girlfriends of the some of the football players. They gap as she passes them by before turning to one another and she can hear just the beginning of their conversion. "Oh my god…that's Adele Gilbert." "Who's Adele Gilbert?" "Elena Gilbert's twin, Caroline Forbes and Tyler Lockwood's best friend and Michael Landon's ex, she left after her parent's funeral. I can't believe she came back…"

As the conversion drafts out of ear shot Adele can't help but roll her blue eyes. It was amazing how something as simple as a person returning to their own home town could turn someone else's world upside down. Her return would be all over the town by the end of football practice Adele was sure of it, whether or not people believed it was beyond her.

She had decided to stop in if not only for a minute, just to check up on everything. Caroline had filled her in completely and now Adele was just witnessing part of it. Like how Caroline gets dropped off for cheerleading practice by Adele could only guess Damon Salvatore before she kicks Elena to the curb and Elena comes over to watch her boyfriend come out onto the field but Elena never notices when her boyfriend's eyes find her sitting at the top of the bleachers and that was when she figures it's time to leave, because she didn't really want _anyone_ to see her. He had watched as she made her way from the bleachers and before she has the chance to disappear from sight she turns back to him and arches a waxed eyebrow.

~x~

Right side of the house, first window on the 2nd floor, Adele stares up at it. She located it now all she needed was a way into it. The window directly under the 2nd story window is the window that looks into the kitchen which is where her sister and her sister's best friend are preparing a restaurant delivered dinner for god knows what reason.

Getting caught sneaking into her room was not part of Adele's plan tonight; all she wanted was to get into the room and sleep. If Elena caught her there was going to be bitching and moaning and more bitching and Adele was in no mood. So peeking through the see through curtain to make sure Elena and Bonnie's backs were turned away Adele boosted herself up onto the window seal of the window as silently as possible. Standing up straight she reaches up, her finger tips just grazing the window seal of her bedroom window and she curses because it would turn out she's not tall enough, because being tall enough would be too easy.

Peeking back into the window she sighs with relief when their backs are still turned before standing up straight and looking up at the window seal. Taking a leap she grasps the window seal with all the strength in her hands, her knuckles turning white. Using her lower body strength she swings her right leg up her foot catching the window seal and as if that wasn't dangerous enough she uses her other foot to climb the wall as she pushed herself up. Finally getting herself safe or safeish on the window seal she takes a minute to catch her breath before reaches for her the window, hoping to god no one had come into her room and locked it at some point while she was gone.

After successfully finding it unlocked she pushes it open just enough to slip into the dark room. She closes the window and locks it up before turning around. Slowly she starts to count her steps, moving left three steps when she hits the number 4 and stopping completely when she hits the number 14. Reaching out her hand grazes the light switch and she flips it on smirking.

One day a few years back she had spent the day memorizing the lay out of her room by counting each step she took in the room. After that day she had successfully been able to walk around her entire room with no help from the lights, being able to dodge everything in her path, her bed, her dresser, her bed side tables. It made it easier to sneak in and out of the house at night when her parents thought she was asleep.

It had to be a good two hours or so later when she was finally settled into bed looking up at the glow in the dark stars she had put up there on the ceiling so many years ago. She smirks thinking back to that day Caroline had helped her do that.

Thinking of Caroline Adele thought maybe she should give her a call and tell her she was home, let someone know she hadn't left for good because Adele was sure that's what everyone was thinking when she had announced her leaving after her parent's funeral.

There was only one problem with that…she couldn't find her phone. She searches the room, retracing her steps from when she had come in to when she had gotten changed. A thought struck her and she almost groans walking up to the window and unlocking it, sliding it open and popping her head out looking down.

Below she could just barely make out the IPhone sitting in the grass. She licks her bottom lip as she stares at it, it must have fallen out of her back pocket when she kicked up her leg to hook her foot onto the window seal. She should have remembered to seal the phone in her front pocket so she could make sure something like _that _didn't happen.

She sighs and leans back into the room. She figures she has two options here; she can climb her small self-back down to the ground and retrieve her phone before climbing back up to the window or she could walk down stairs right in the middle of Elena's dinner party grab the phone and walk back up the stairs, but she knew how that would end, in screaming and door slams…that was if Elena caught her. Smiling just slightly she walks towards the bedroom door deciding that it had been too long since she played ninja.

Slipping out the bedroom door as quietly as she can she looks down each side of the hall seeing no one she crept towards the stairs where the sound of voices drifted from below, male voices at that. She pauses just at the top of the stairs and frowns. "That's not a problem…because I've been invited in and I will come back tomorrow night and the following night and I'll do with your little…cheerleader whatever I want to do, because that is what is normal to me."

That is what is normal? What kind of people did Elena have over? Adele sighs softly brushing it off before taking her first couple of steps down slowly, she slightly peeks her head out from behind the wall and her blue eyes widen slightly as two pairs of eyes are looking back at her. Other than the two other pairs of eyes there was no one in the living room. She slowly came out of hiding, leaning slightly over the railing to see if she could see Elena.

The boy on the couch was moving to stand and Adele shook her head, mentioning with her hands for him to sit back down. She pressed a finger to her lips before pointing slightly towards the kitchen. "I think she wants us to be quite and to not move." Damon whispered and Adele tapped her nose. "Who is she?" Damon looks at his brother and Stefan slightly shrugs. Adele races down the rest of the stairs, making no sound as she opens the front door slips out closing it behind her.

Stefan and Damon look at each other puzzled for a moment before a sound human hears could never pick up on makes them turn back to the door as the girl slips back in. She takes a step towards them and Damon finally gets a good look at her. She's small, about Elena's height but she's less hour glass shaped, just a tad but less curvy. That didn't mean she didn't have curses, _no definitely not _Damon thinks as his eyes travel down the length of her body, she's curved in all the right places and tan…man was she tan. Her almost beach blonde hair was straight, falling just past her mid back. Her eyes are a color Damon had never seen before, blue, clear blue but with a tint of red or…reddish pink was it?

Her somewhat pouty lips are parted slightly as she glances towards the kitchen. She looks back at them and her eyes meet both of theirs before she speaks and Damon recognizes the voice immediately, it was sweet with a husky edge to it, and no one notices the shudder that runs through his body as she speaks directly to them. "You didn't see me…I was never here." She speaks softly, loud enough for them to hear but not loud enough to draw any attention from the kitchen. _There's no need for compulsion with a voice like that. _Stefan thinks to himself and Damon is having similar thoughts but what gets him is that he finds he has a sudden need to follow her, to go wherever she was going and _that has to stop. _

~x~

There's screams and cheers from half-drunk girls and boys and Adele smiles slightly thinking back to last year when she was on the cheerleading squad. She had been half way to drunk by the time kick off rolled around and Caroline and Tyler Lockwood were shoving water down her throat in an attempted to sober her up in time for the game. No one noticed her state though when she managed to preform quite well when the game started. A part of her missed that but that was all in her past now and she had no intentions of going back down that path.

Adele passes by the crowd of people, football players and cheerleaders, making her way over to the tailgaters. Hoping up onto the truck her brother was on, the boy next to him almost jumps out his skin when he notices her. The couch was saying something she wasn't listening to as the guy hands her a cup and Jeremy turns as she steps up to him. "Holy fuck…" He's speechless for a moment as he looks at her. "Adele…What the fuck are you doing here?" He laughs as he wraps one arm around her, the one not holding the bottle of alcohol.

"I live here Jer." He smiles. "I know that…but you left…" She raises an eyebrow a smirk curving her lips. "For the summer, didn't I explain that?" He sighs and nods. "But no one expected you to come back…I mean there was a rumor going around yesterday that you had but no one believed it." She frowns. "No one?" He nods and she sighs looking out over the crowd not too far away. That just shows how much faith people had in her.

Adele sits and Jeremy soon follows her led smirking as he watches his older sister grab the bottle from his hand and pour some into her cup before handing it back. "So Jer, what's been going on with you?" Before he has the chance to answer Adele takes in the way he tenses as he spots Tyler Lockwood who spots him as well. Adele's not blind; she sees what's about to happen and in a desperate attempt to stop what was sure to be a disaster in the making she jumps from the tailgate of the truck and places her hand on Jeremy's shoulder stepping out in front of him. "Jeremy don't." She pleads as Tyler is approaching.

"Don't look so down…you can have her when I'm done." Adele turns around to look at Tyler fully intending to tell him off and his eyes widen just slightly as he notices who she is. Adele ducks in time as Jeremy's fist comes flying towards Tyler. She stumbled out of the way of the fight just barely making it to the side lines as Tyler practically body slams Jeremy where she was just previously standing. "Tyler stop it!" She yells but Tyler being the asshole that he is doesn't listen.

The fight draws attention and Adele runs a hand through her blonde hair as she watches the people surround. She was seriously considering trying to break the fight up herself before she noticed Elena's boyfriend walking up. "He's down! Enough!" Stefan reaches out and his hand catches Tyler's wrist midair.

Tyler stands his faces a mask of disbelief and anger as he looks at Stefan. Tyler slams his fist into Stefan's gut but he doesn't even flinch and Adele frowns. Out of the corner of her eye she can see Jeremy grab the broken bottle from the ground. "Jeremy no!" Her voice is echoed as Stefan pushes Tyler off to the side taking the broken bottle to the hand and Elena makes it over pushing Jeremy back towards the truck.

Adele watches as Stefan looks down at his bleeding hand and she notices how the bleeding stops and how he squeezes his hand shut looking around as if he was hoping no one saw. By the time she looks back over to Elena she notices Jeremy walking away. Grabbing a six pack from the back of the truck she pushes pass Elena. "Adele…?" Adele didn't turn as she heard her name being called by Elena, so much for keeping a low profile.

~x~

Dropping the six pack into his lap Jeremy looks up and sighs as Adele slides down next to him. "Are you here to bitch me out?" Adele laughs softly and turns to her little brother. "No…" He glances at her. "I just want you to listen…" He nods slightly. "I know losing mom and dad was hard on you…it was hard on all of us. I ran, you turned to drugs and Elena…I don't even know what's going on with her. You might feel like there's no place you belong but you belong here Jer, because people here love you they care about you. If you're going to throw your life away be my guest but don't expect us to watch."

Adele gives him a small smile before standing up and dusting off her shorts. "Clean the blood off your face as well." She says as she stuffs her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket and walks away.

She mirrors his steps as he makes his way towards his car. The football game had been canceled due to an animal attack on Mr. Tanner and Adele had spotted Tyler walking from the locker rooms. She knew he knew someone was following him but he wasn't giving anything away.

As the round a corner Adele freezes when Tyler suddenly turns. She smiles as he drops his gym bag to stare at her and she takes a step towards him. "Hi Ty." He let out a breath. "Holy shit…I thought I was seeing things back there." She shakes her head closing the distances between them. "When did you get back?" She arches an eyebrow smiling. "You didn't hear yesterday?" He shrugs. "I did…I just thought it was a rumor." She nods sighing because she was really getting sick of people saying that.

She frowns as she looks up at him. "Are you going to give me a hug or what man?" Tyler laughs lightly as he pulls her to him and she smiles wrapping her arms around him tightly taking a deep breath because man…did it feel good to be home.

There was a pounding at her bedroom door that night; Adele lay back in bed staring up at the glow in the dark stars a small smile on her face. "Adele! I know you're in there, open the door!" Adele took a deep breath her smile widening as she let it out. "You can't ignore me forever Adele!" Adele rolled her blue eyes, of course she couldn't ignore her forever and she wasn't planning on it. She was just tired and she didn't feel like having the conversion she played over and over in her head, because she knew how it would go.

~x~

**Family Ties**

Adele smiles as she steps up to the Lockwood family, Carol's eyes widening. "Adele!" She shirks as Tyler and Mayor Lockwood smile. Adele returns Carol's tight hug before turning to the guys. "It's good to see you back and safe Adele." Adele smiles softly at Mayor Lockwood. "Come on, I'll show you to the drinks." Carol took her hand and led her towards the back. "That is a lovely dress by the way, where did you get it?" Adele smiles. "It was a gift."

Damon spots the blonde has he's walking towards Stefan and Caroline. She was just past the dance floor, talking with a few others. He hardly notices when Elena asks Stefan to dance and they walk off leaving him with Caroline his eyes locked on the blonde across the dance floor. After a few minutes of watching her he turns to Caroline. "Who is that?" Caroline glances at him before turning to look. "Oh that's Adele Gilbert." Caroline took a sip from her glass her eyes widening as she looks back over. "Oh my god! Adele!"

Caroline rushes threw the dance floor, over to the laughing blonde as she throws her arms around her. "You're alive!" Adele's laugh fills the night air, and the sound was almost angel like. "I called you not too long ago…of course I'm alive." Caroline nods pulling away. "I know but I was still worried, I heard the rumor about you being back and I got SO excited, but you know how rumors are I couldn't be too sure they were true, I was going to call you and ask but that whole thing that happened with Mr. Tanner…" Adele smiles softly up at her best friend. "What?" Caroline asks her grin wavering slightly. "Nothing…I just missed you and your obsessive talking."

Caroline smiles before turning and glancing up at Damon as Elena and Stefan are walking up. "Adele…" Adele's blue eyes glance over and she sighs. "You've been avoiding me haven't you?" Adele nods. "No of course not." She smirks at her sister as Caroline snickers. "You think your real funny. Do you really think you can just waltz back in here and be treated the same?" Adele raises an eyebrow at her sister. "You wonder why I was avoiding you…" She mutters and Caroline is seeing the change in Adele. "Elena…can you…." Caroline doesn't finish her question before Elena cuts her off. "How can you even come back here and act like everything is normal? Like nothing happened?"

"I'm not acting like nothing happened Elena…" Elena cut her off. "Yes you are." Adele stepped forward a slow, quiet growl rumbling through her chest that made everyone around excluding Damon take a step back. "I'm not acting like nothing happened Elena. Mom and Dad died, there dead, gone and I've come to terms with that. I'm moving on, like I know mom and dad would have wanted. Just because there gone Elena doesn't mean the world stops spinning, it's time to move on Elena. Get over yourself." Her once sweet voice was emotionless, and there was an edge of darkness to it that had Damon wanting to know this girl even more.

As the blonde pushes past Elena everyone is left staring after her. Elena glances around her as eyes turn to her before straitening her back with her head held high and walking off in the other direction. Damon found that once again he is tempted to follow her and when Caroline calls his name he realizes that he had acted without thinking as he started in the direction the blonde (they said her name was Adele) had gone.

When he found her she was sipping from a glass of wine standing just at the end of the bar. Making his way over, he ordered a drink before turning to her and he almost took a step back as he found her blue eyes were watching his every move. "May I help you?" She asks and for a second he forgets how to speak.

"Caroline's boyfriend right? Damon Salvatore?" Damon nods and gives her a lazy grin. "That was harsh back there…" She scoffs facing forward. "I didn't say anything that wasn't true, she knows me…she knows my temper but she chooses to push me." Damon nods picking up the glass the bar tender sets in front of him taking a sip. "So you and Elena are…" Adele turns to fully face him. "Twins…" Damon doesn't miss the bitter tone of her voice as she explains to him that she's older by 4 minutes.

"You don't sound too thrilled about it." She sighs. "No offence, but I'm not talking about this with you. I can tell just by the look of your face that you are a drama starter." She finishes off the glass of wine in her hand before placing it on the bar and walking away. Damon smirks as she watches her; he could tell already…she was going to be fun.

~x~

Adele pauses in the door way of the bathroom as she spots Elena and Caroline reapplying make up. She started to turn around to walk back out but was stopped as Elena looks at Caroline. "What is that?" Out of curiosity Adele turns back to watch Elena reach for the scarf around Caroline's neck but Caroline shrugs her off. Adele frowns; she didn't even notice the scarf earlier, since when did Caroline wear scarfs?

Elena being who she is didn't take the hint and pulled up the scarf up revealing to them a bite mark that had started to burse. "Oh my god! Caroline what happened?" Caroline pushes Elena's hands away. "It's nothing okay?" Elena looks on in disbelief before she remembers how to talk. "That is not nothing, did somebody hurt you?"

"No! Okay…it's nothing." Adele wasn't the only one to notice that Caroline responded just a little too fast. Caroline leans forward, fixing her lip gloss as she mutters to herself. "My mother would kill me." And Adele's blue eyes widen slightly, because that statement just said it all.

Elena pushes the white sweater Caroline is wearing down revealing another disturbing bite mark and Adele's frown deepens. "Did Damon hurt you?" Elena's the one who voices what's going through Adele's head because Adele is just a bit too stunned to say anything. It was like a puzzle coming together in her mind.

"No…of course not." Caroline swallows thickly as Elena reaches for her again. "Just leave me alone Elena!" Caroline grabs her stuff and Adele steps out of her way as she's putting the pieces together. Stefan and Damon Salvatore should have died in 1864, Stefan's non response to Tyler's punch, the quick healing and the bite marks that may or may not be from Damon, plus it was rare for a mountain lion to stroll into the middle of town and attack only the couch of the football team and from what Adele as picked up the attacks started just after Stefan arrived in town.

Adele glances at Elena before going after Caroline. "Caroline!" Caroline stops because Adele was her best friend and if anyone would believe her it was her. "He didn't hurt me I swear." Adele nods holding up her hands. "Okay…he didn't hurt you. If that's what you say, then he didn't hurt you." Caroline nods. "He didn't." Adele smiles softly not wanting to scare her already frightened best friend. "Want to get a drink?" Caroline nods.

Adele places the drink in front of Caroline and Caroline looks at it before laughing. "Is it fruity?" Adele smiles and nods. "The bar tender wouldn't give me anything stronger, because in his words: he shouldn't even be giving me this." Caroline's laugh rises in volume and Adele laughs as well. "God I've missed you." Caroline mutters as takes a sip of the fruity drink in front of her.

A drink and a half later and Adele is frowning when Damon steps into the middle of them looking down at her. "I'm sorry to intrude but may I speak to Caroline real fast?" Just over Damon's shoulder Adele could make out the pleading look Caroline sends her way. "Well you know I kind of have questions…" Damon places a hand on her shoulder but snaps it back when the skin to skin connect sends tingles up his arms and she almost gasps at the same feeling. Her eyes are wide as she looks up at him.

For a moment he's not sure what to do, but touching her wasn't an option not at this point in time. "I have to talk to her first." He mutters and slowly his pupils dilate. "You're not going to follow us, you're going to turn in the other direction and walk away." Her eyes are still wide as she looks up into his icy blue orbs and she slowly nods.

He grips Caroline's arm in his vise like grip before dragging her away towards the back of the house and it takes Adele a couple seconds to snap out of her dazed state. A slow smirk forms on her pink lips as she watches them disappear. Her puzzle was just completed thanks to one Damon Salvatore but that was the least of her worries as she realizes that he just ran off with her best friend and he didn't seem to happy. Making sure the bottom of her dress wouldn't trip her she runs towards the back of the house.

She spots Damon dragging Caroline down the steps at the very back of the yard and she curses, before her eyes spot Elena and Stefan as Stefan is walking off and she curses louder because she knows that Elena probably said something to Damon and this wasn't going to end too well if someone didn't stop him, did she plan to be the one to stop him? If she very much had to which probably wouldn't end well for her but as long as Caroline was okay that didn't matter.

Her heels made it difficult to run in the grass but Adele has had enough practice to pull it off and she can see Damon and Caroline. It looked like she was a bit too late but as she spots Stefan walking up from the darkness and Damon letting go of Caroline as he fell to the side choking (It looks like at least) she almost sighs in relief because Stefan only checks on Caroline before disappearing with Damon.

Adele is frozen for a moment before she realizes that Caroline is standing up and she rushes forward. "Caroline!" She calls as she's coming closer and Caroline turns to her. "Are you okay?" Adele trails off as she reaches Caroline and Caroline nods. "Yeah…I'm fine." Adele swallows back tears as she watches tears fall down her best friend's cheeks. "Caroline…" Caroline nods once more. "I'm fine." Adele shakes her head. "Caroline you're shaking, come here." Adele brings Caroline to her and tightly wraps her arms around. "Everything is going to be okay." Adele's eyes cast a glance over to where Stefan and Damon had disappeared. Something terribly wrong was going to happen…Adele could feel it.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Review? (:<em>**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here we are Chapter 2, sorry this took so long I've been kind of busy lately but I'll try to get the next chapter up faster. I'm still putting up Adele's outfits on my page if you want to see them; I have changed them as well. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

**Review? (:**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: You're Undead to Me<strong>

She's tossing and turning, whimpering as the images flash throw her mind. Her blue eyes snap open and she sits up taking a few deep breaths to calm her rapidly beating heart. God damn those nightmares, why was she having nightmares? She never used to have nightmares and she couldn't figure out exactly what they meant. Glancing at her alarm clock she groans as she sees it's 4 in the morning. She lays back down shoving her head underneath her pillows.

On a split second thought she hops out of bed, grabs a pair of shorts, and an old MTV tank top before she quickly dresses, slipping into a pair of running shoes, grabbing her IPod and leaving her room, making sure to close the door behind her. It's been more than a few days since she went jogging and in her mind that was just a little to long for comfort.

The sun wasn't quite up yet and it's warm, but not hot. There was a slight breeze and Adele smiles as she looked up at the sky. There was something about being outside that made her feel…content. She grew up outside whether the sun was shining or it was raining, there wasn't anywhere she wanted to be more then outside and she was glad to have a best friend that shared the joy of the outside life with her and she planned on waking him up in an hour or so, so he could join her.

She jogs up the steps of the Lockwood house around 5:30, and Carol is there to let her in. "Would you like anything to eat sweetheart?" Adele gives the woman a soft smile before shaking her head. "I ate about 30 minutes before I started over here." Carol finally taking in her appearance and gives her a pointed look. "Why are you up so earlier running? You should be getting your rest, making sure your sharp for school." Adele laughs lightly. "I'm never as sharp as I am when I run in the morning, you know that." Carol nods. "You're right; I forget how important it is for you to be active every day."

"I'm just here to wake up Ty and drag him out with me." Carol nods slowly, smiling at the young girl. "Good luck with that." Adele smiles as she makes her way up the stairs of the Lockwood house.

After banging on the door doesn't work and she calls out his name and getting no response she swung the door open and sighs stepping into the room. She was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but he was leaving her no other choice. She walks slowly up to his bed, her footsteps silent. He's looking up at her, his blanket pulled up to his shoulders. "Your back…now I'm guessing this is going to start happening every morning again?" Adele smirks down at him. "You know it buddy." He sighs and turns his head the other way. "Well to bad for you, I've enjoyed the peace I get in the morning when you're not waking me up."

Adele can tell he was going to choose to be difficult this morning and she wasted no time in grabbing his pillow from under his head and hitting him over the head with it. He let out an "oof" sound before turning his head back to glare at her. "Are you going to get up? I have all morning to slap you around with your own pillow Lockwood." Tyler pushes himself up into an sitting potion. "I'm up." He mutters and she smiles before hitting him once more with the pillow knocking him back down. "What was that for?" Adele shrugs. "It was fun." She places the pillow back on the bed and smiles an innocent smile down at him.

~x~

Adele takes a sip of water as she slows down next to Tyler, he glances at her. "You have something to say. I can tell." Tyler nods slowly turning around and heading back towards the town and out of the woods. Adele falls in step with him. "I just…This is all still so surprising. I mean it feels like you've been gone forever…" Adele takes a deep breath. "I know what I did…may have…"

"Hurt people?" Adele nods slowly looking at Tyler. "I just felt like I was suffocating, being here after they died. I know if I stayed I could have gotten through, I had you and Caroline but I'm not exactly sure what happened, everything was falling apart and I was so lost…My parents meant the world to me." Tyler sighs. "I know, I'm not trying to make you feel bad, I just had to know…" She smiles sadly at him. "Pain is a weakness Ty..."

"I know…That's one of the many things I adore about you Adele. You're tough; I don't see how you do it. You were so strong after their death." Adele swallows thickly. "I was broken…I wasn't trying to be strong, I had no strength…I was tired, I was emotionally and physically tired. I just needed time to cope with everything without someone coming up to me every day and telling me how sorry they were for my loss or how great of people my parents were because I already knew amazing my parents were and I didn't want their pity."

~x~

After rushing home, taking a shower and getting ready for the school day Caroline is waiting for her in the parking lot of the school as she parks her 1969 slick black Mustang in the spot she found in the front of the school. As she steps up to Caroline she spots the small yellow Volkswagen Beetle that was stopped not too far away out of the corner of her eye. The girl who owns the car (Adele thinks her name is Andria) steps out her eyes locking on Adele and Adele raises an eyebrow as she turns to the girl. "That is my spot."

Adele sighs softly glancing back at Caroline who shrugs. "Be nice." Caroline mouths but Adele was already turned back. "Let me go all cliché on you for a moment, does it have your name on it? Does the spot pacifically say "This spot belongs to the bitch with the ugly yellow bug?" No…? What a damn shock." The girl's glare wasn't nearly as intimidating as she might have thought it was as she's walking towards Adele's Mustang. "What do you think you're doing? Step away from the car before someone and I do mean you gets hurt." The girl held up a shiny silver key and Adele frowns looking at Caroline. "You move this metal death trap of a car or I ruin the shiny new paint job."

Adele takes a step forward holding up a hand. "You ruin the shiny new paint job and I'll ruin your shiny new nose job, you know no matter how much plastic surgery you get, you're always going to be an ugly person, I put more money into that car then anyone would be willing to pay to be seen with you. Step away from the car before I bash your face into the windshield of your bug, your choice." Caroline steps forward as Adele takes another step towards the girl. "Andria just put down the key. The spot doesn't belong to you; go find another spot to park there's tons."

Andria glances at Caroline. "Put the key down or you're off the squad." Caroline threatens and part of her is hoping she doesn't listen because having her on the squad wasn't the highlight of anyone's day but Caroline wasn't willing to see exactly how bad this situation could get before Adele did something drastic and knowing Adele's temper towards her most price possession it wouldn't take much to set her off.

Andria slowly lowers the key and gives them both a solid death glare before going back to her bug and driving off. Caroline turns to Adele and Adele glances at her. "Are you like mad at the world or something?" Adele shakes her head. "I'm perfectly clam."

"You are extremely clam but you extremely clam in a situation like that is never good. I know how you are about your car Adele but don't you think that was a little…much?" Adele rolls her blue eyes. "No, I don't think it was a little much. Building that car from the ground up was _not _easy to do, it took me longer to get under the damn hood of that car then it takes for a guy to get in that girls pants and she has the balls to step up and threaten to key _my_ car? Didn't I like break her older sister's nose last year shouldn't that have told her to back off? I know I've gone soft in my old age but I haven't gone that _soft. _You don't miss with a girl's car, that's just something you _don't_ do."

Caroline let out a high pitch laugh as she tilts her head back to look up at the sky. "You…soft? That's a joke; you do realize you can be the meanest person in town right? You broke her older sister's nose for flirting with Mikey at the beginning of last year." Adele sighs. "I'm not mean, I'm truthful, and I don't take shit from people with yellow cars that look like bugs and she deserved that, she was rubbing her greasy hands all over him and he was mine." Caroline just gives her a look as they make it into the school.

Adele was half paying attention when she noticed a couple of girls from the cheerleading squad following them as Caroline proceeded to explain to them about the Sexy Suds Car Wash. Adele catches most of her explanation but loses focus as she spots Elena and Stefan. Caroline spots them a few second later before grabbing a hold of Adele's wrist. "Where are we going? You know I don't like being dragged." Caroline shots her a look. "We're going to talk to Stefan; I want to know where Damon is." Adele nods. "Right…sexy ex-boyfriend dude; got it." And she wasn't lying; the guy was pretty sexy from what she saw. Caroline smiles slightly. "Boyfriend once he apologizes." Adele can only smile sadly towards her as she knows Damon wasn't going to be apologizing to anyone.

"Stefan…" Stefan's green eyes glance between them as they stop. "Where's Damon? He has some serious apologizing to do." Adele meets Stefan's gaze for a second before he turns to Caroline. "He's gone Caroline." Hurt crosses Caroline's face for a split second before she smiles weakly. "When is he coming back?" But even before she asks, she knows. "He's not coming back…I'm sorry." It was a sorry with almost no feeling behind it and Caroline nods slowly as she watches him walk away before her eyes focus on the now very interesting lockers a head of her.

Elena places a comforting hand on Caroline's shoulder a small smile on her face that makes Adele want to slap her. "This is a good thing…Caroline." Adele frowns at Elena. "You have to be kidding me." Elena glances at her. "Adele don't, Damon was a bad person." Adele nods. "Maybe so but Caroline likes him, or did like him. Telling her that him being gone is a good thing is not going to comfort her in anyway what so ever. At this very moment him being gone is only good in your mind…it's only good for you." _And the rest of the town. _

Gripping Caroline's hand she turns towards the direction of their first class and leaves Elena watching after them. "I say….romantic comedies and ice cream tonight?" Caroline looks over to Adele and nods. "Okay…" A slow smile spreads on her face. "Yeah…My house, tonight."

~x~

Adele's eyes scan over the back side of the DVD case in her hand as Caroline is messing around with her make up. It had been a long time since the two of them had a night like this. It was a tradition of there's ever since Caroline's first break up. They would rent a whole stack of Romantic Comedies, get a few things of Ice Cream and spend the night coped up in Caroline or Adele's room doing nothing but watching the movies, eating ice cream and talking.

They had done it for Adele as well (Tyler had also joined them), when she went through her first bad break up with her boyfriend, the guy she dated all through high school up until last year when she broke up with him on a whim in the middle of the year. Sometimes she wonders why she broke up with him.

"I'm serious Adele…no one piece. Do not do the one piece, were going for stripper pole vipe this year." Adele turns her blue eyes towards her a smirk forming on her lips. "Yes and maybe we can wash the cars in slow motion." Caroline freezes her eyes widening slightly. "I was kidding Caroline." Caroline laughs lightly. "Of course, I know that. It was just a thought."

"A bad one." Adele mutters as Caroline walks up to the mirror. Adele watches slightly as Caroline stops laughing and turns to stare at the very back corner of her room. Adele turns towards the corner before looking back up at Caroline. "Something wrong?" Caroline shakes her head slowly. "No…I just thought I saw something."

"Freak…" Adele mutters and shirks holding up a pillow, the brush that was hurdling towards her hitting it before landing on the bed with a soft thud. Adele peeks out from behind the pillow at Caroline who is smirking.

Adele looks over as a crow lands on the window seal of Caroline's open window. "What the hell?" She asks and Caroline looks almost frightened. Adele stands from the bed still gripping the pillow. She thrust the pillow at the crow knocking it back a step. "Shoo." The crow doesn't move staring up at her with black eyes and she hits it off the window seal lightly watching as it flies into the darkness. Turning back to Caroline she hugs the pillow to her chest a smile wide on her face. "All better." She mutters and Caroline fails to hold back her giggles. "You look so childish."

~x~

It was warm out, not so warm that it was uncomfortable, but there here was a slight breeze that made her straight blonde locks fall behind her shoulders as she walks towards the ongoing car wash. She was just a tad bit late arriving but she's here which is what Caroline will really care about.

She freezes and her hands fly in the air, her eyes are wide and she doesn't dare move. "Take it off." Adele glances behind Tyler and Caroline smiles at her. Adele glances down at the hose in Tyler's hands before looking up at him. "Tyler…" Tyler shakes his head. "Take it off or I will soak you." Adele glances around her for any sort of help but see's nothing but smirking faces as people gather. "We can be reasonable here Ty…"

"No…we can't. You either strip or go home wet." Adele's blue eyes narrowed at him. "You've been planning this ever since you realized I would be here, haven't you?" The smirk that forms on Tyler's face says it all and Adele nods slowly, she waves an arm in the air and Tyler tilts his head slightly in confusion. "This is my imaginary white flag." Tyler laughs as she sighs.

She can hear cheers and clapping as she slowly lifts her Pink Floyd top over her head and wiggles her shorts down her legs. Once the clothes are off, she hands them to Caroline before shirking as cold water hits her. Tyler throws the hose to the side before a hand covers his mouth and Caroline snickers. "I am so sorry…it slipped."

She whips at the water on her face nodding. "It's okay…it's not like that shit was cold or anything!" She shirks and Tyler is laughing. "I'll get you back for that…you just wait!"

She was sprawled out on the hood of her car about a half an hour later, her hands resting flat on the hood and her eyes closed, her IPod was on full volume and she could feel the heat of about 3 pairs of eyes on her but chose to ignore them. Caroline had come to her telling her to go get her car park it at the beginning of the car wash and tan on the hood of it. Adele had thought the idea was ridicules and at first she refused but Caroline had explained to her that it would quite possibly attract more males to the car wash if they saw how attractive the females that were washing the cars were, again Adele had refused telling Caroline that she had self-respect and morals. After 5 more minutes of auguring Caroline had offered her 40 bucks and promised to get a guy out there as well which on top of being able to maintain her tan she agreed. She figured she could drown out the noise and ignore the stares for an hour or two.

It wasn't till she looked over and noticed Stefan washing a car alone that she hopped off the hood and walked away from her post. Walking up to Stefan he looks up for a second as she grabs a rag. "Won't Caroline be mad if she sees you've left your post?" Adele throws him a lazy smirk as she begins to wipe down the car. "Caroline doesn't control me, she might control the rest of society but she knows better with me." Stefan gives her a small smile. "How did she get you up there then?"

"40 bucks and Michael on the car on the other side plus it takes work to have a tan like this, winters coming and what am I supposed to do then?" Stefan laughs lightly as he looks over to the blonde on the other side. "So I'm sure my sister has said some interesting things about me." Stefan sighs. "She's just upset." Adele's eyes sharpened as she looks up at him and he stops what he's about to say. "Don't defend her. I know you're her boyfriend and everything but we all have our reasons for doing what we do. She's not little miss I can do nothing wrong." Stefan nods. "I get it."

She sighs as she stands up straight from leaning over the car. She slowly makes her way to the other side to stand in front of Stefan as she glances around them carefully. "Where exactly is Damon?" Stefan casts her a glance as he continues to dry off the car. "I already told you. He left." Adele nods leaning back on the car, something about his glances towards her and the uncomfortable edge to his voice gave Adele the impression he was lying, other than that there was no evidence that he wasn't telling the truth and Damon had simply up and left Mystic Falls.

"I'm not going to play this game with you Stefan. I'll just cut to the chase. I know what you are." Stefan's whole form tensed. His back straightens as he turns to look at her. She arches an eyebrow at him. "I don't know what you're talking about." She laughs throwing her head back for a moment. The laugh was forced Stefan could tell. "The way you tensed says otherwise. Your football star cover isn't going to help you here Salvatore."

Stefan was caught and he had a feeling there was no way he was going to get around this. "How did you find out?" She sighs pushing off the car to turn to him. "Besides the fact that the Salvatore brothers should have died in 1864…I watched your hand heal at the football game, you weren't effected by Tyler's punch, and to top it all off…your brother tried to compel me not to follow him as he dragged my best friend off. I'm not going to tell anyone if that's what this conversion is going to get at but my sister isn't stupid, she'll figure it out soon."

He nods. "I know that, I'm trying to delay it." He pauses as he study's her. "How did you know we exist in the first place?" That was a thought that never crossed her mind, not till now that was and she feels a wave of dizziness overcome her as she thinks about it. It's almost too much and she places a hand on the car to steady herself as she feels her knees go week. Stefan catches her arm, a look of concern crosses his face as he notices the flush of her cheeks.

"Are you okay?" She blinks as her eyes don't seem to want to focus on anything. She nods. "I'm fine…I got to go…find Tyler." As she stumbles off Stefan has half a thought to go after her to make sure she finds him okay but thinks better of it.

She finds Tyler at the other end of the car wash and he frowns as she walks up. "You look sick…are you okay?" She nods. "I'm just a bit dizzy…I'm going to head home. I'll talk to you later." He doesn't have a chance to say anything before she's walking away and he's just a bit too stunned to go after her.

~x~

As she makes it slowly up the stairs another wave of dizziness washes over it, and her stomach turns, she makes it to her bathroom slamming the door behind her.

Slowly she lays down on her bed a cold wash cloth across her forehead. She suddenly feels like she's forgetting something, something very important…something very important to her.

Running a hand down her face she picks up her phone and sends a quick text to Tyler asking if he could pick up some medicine for her because it would be too easy for her to have any on hand. As she waited for a reply she starting to wonder where exactly Caroline was, when she was leaving she noticed Caroline nowhere in sight and that just wasn't like her, because Caroline was in charge and when Caroline was in charge Caroline was on top of everyone and everything. She was a bit worried on top of all the other feelings running through her right now. She jumps as the bed vibrates beside her and she reaches for her phone.

_Of course, I'll pick some up and bring it by right now. I'll see you soon._

She smiles softly. Tyler might be an ass most of the time but he had his moments and she was glad most of those moments were directed at her. After a few minutes of lying there she starts wondering how long it would take her sister to realize that her perfect boyfriend was a vampire. Elena was a smart girl Adele was sure it wouldn't take her too long to figure it out. She would give Elena to the end of tonight or by late tomorrow to figure it out. She also wonders where Stefan had hid Damon before her thoughts shifted back to Caroline and where she had disappeared to. All this thinking was starting to give her a head ache and she closes her eyes sighing. This night couldn't get any worse.


	3. Chapter 3

**Here it is Chapter 3; I hope you all enjoy it. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: Lost Girls<strong>

She wakes to the slamming of doors and groans lightly. _It can't be morning already. _She thinks to herself as she gets out of the bed, walking up to the window she peers out of the closed curtain. Sure enough it was still dark out and one glance at her phone showed that it was just past 11pm. Adele glares at her bedroom door wondering why someone was slamming doors at this time of night. The medicine Tyler had brought her knocked her out in no less than 30 minutes and hasn't had the time wear completely off leaving her feeling groggy as she slips from her room.

She makes it down the hall in time to see Elena open her bed room door slightly run out before running back in and Adele raises a lazy eyebrow following her sister into her room. She frowns at Elena who is looking out the window. "What the hell is going on?" Elena jumps almost slamming her head on the open window of her room. Turning Elena sighs as she sees it's only Adele.

"Did…uh did I wake you?" Adele's frown deepened. "Obviously. What was with the door slamming?" Elena shakes her head softly pushing a piece of brunette hair behind her ear. Adele tilts her head to the side. "Boyfriend troubles?" By the way Elena's brown eyes shift to the floor and she seems to find her shoes more interesting than anything else at the moment Adele could guess she was right. "What happened?"

Elena sighs running a hand through her hair. "He just wasn't who I thought he was…" Adele nods slowly; her groggy mind took a moment to realize exactly what that meant. "Did you figure out he wasn't just a regular high school football star?" Elena's brown eyes lock on her and Elena takes a step towards her studying her. "Do you know?" Adele shrugs lightly a sly smirk on her lips.

"Depends what you're referring to. Your boyfriend and his brother's deep dark secret?" Elena continued to look at her sister with a far-fetched idea in her head that her sister had known the whole time, but the idea was just that far-fetched because there was no way Adele could know that _vampires_ existed and she didn't, unless she figured it out over summer which makes Elena wonder what the hell went on with her over the summer.

"How come you didn't tell me?" Adele is silent for a moment looking at her sister. "Well…considering the way you reacted when you figured it out yourself…" Elena cut her off. "You have no idea how I reacted." Adele lets out a laugh. "The door slamming and the fact Stefan isn't here says all I need to know." While part of Elena was fuming the other part wanted to break down because if she did she knew Adele would be there for her, she wouldn't just turn her back and pretend like she didn't care because Adele _did_ care no matter how hard she tried to hide it though caring was weakness in Adele's mind and Elena always wondered exactly where Adele had learned that.

"Look Elena…This I'm sure is a lot for you to take in, you need time to think about it but don't go making any drastic decisions in the process. Stefan is one of the very few good ones." Elena is stunned for a moment as she watches her sister walk off.

~x~

There wasn't much at this point in time that could disturb Adele; she was content with being lazy and doing nothing with her younger brother. The two of them were held up in his room and Adele could faintly remember where Elena had said she was going. She had half a thought to ask Jeremy but thought better knowing Jeremy most likely wouldn't know.

"So Jer, How are the drugs treating you?" Looking over his shoulder Jeremy smiles at his older sister. "I stopped taking them." A slow smile spreads on her face as she looks at him. "I thought so." She muttered and Jeremy laughs when there's a knock at the door and the two of them glance towards the hall.

It was a race to see who could get to the door first and Adele gave up when it became obvious after Jeremy picked her up and threw her in the bathroom before slamming the door that he was going to win, so as she makes it down the stairs she passes by him muttering something about cheaters and asshole family members making Jeremy laugh as he opens the door.

"The sun is killing me, my eyes are on fire." Adele pauses in her quest towards the T.V glancing over her shoulder. Vickie Donavon wasn't exactly who Adele wanted to see making out with her brother but she was sure there was far worse out there in the world and as long as Vickie didn't try to drag him down with her then Adele wasn't going to get involved.

Adele makes her way into the living room and just barely hears Vickie ask if they have anything to eat and Adele turns to Jeremy as he's following behind her. "Is she high?" Because if she was this was going to get ugly. "I'll handle it." Jeremy assures her and she nods. "You better." She mutters and grabs the remote from the coffee table.

She can hear the commotion in the kitchen as she tried to focus on the T.V, deciding to see exactly what was going on she makes her way into the kitchen as Vickie is shoving food in her mouth. Jeremy gave Adele a helpless look, and she sighs. "I'm calling Matt." she mutters as she walks back towards the T.V.

She lets Jeremy get the door when he arrives as she stands there looking down at Vickie. Part of her wonders if there's more to this then drugs because Vickie was acting strange and it doesn't seem like any normal high but Adele wouldn't know, she had never dealt with drugs or there aftermaths before.

Adele leaves the room, going back to the living room as Jeremy leads Matt over to his sister. She can hear Vickie crying about her gums which makes Adele frown. She's heard that somewhere before but where? She didn't have much time to think on it as she grabs the remote turning up the volume at the headline of: BREAKING NEWS: Bodies found.

She just barely realizes that Jeremy and the other two had walked up behind her as Jenna's boyfriend. (From what Adele has picked up his name is Logan.) She listens as he talks about a drug deal gone wrong and 8 bodies had yet to be identified. Adele cracks her neck because something about that story was just a bit off.

"That's where we were last night." Adele's blue eyes turn to look back at her brother and the look in her eyes makes him take a step back to stand beside Vickie. "What?" Adele's voice is low and Jeremy thinks it would have been a better idea to not have said anything as he turns to Vickie. "What happened Vick?" Everyone's attention was now on Vickie.

When she fails to provide an answer for them Matt reaches for his Phone. "Alright I'm calling the cops." Vickie's hand reaches for Matt and Matt looks back at her as she pleaded with him not to. Jeremy steps forward and asks her what had happened after he left and Adele was snapped out of her daze as Jeremy flew into the back of the couch. Adele's turns her eyes up to look at Vickie in shock.

Adele hears the front door close and she looks over as Elena comes through. "What's going on?" She asks as she takes in the scene. "She's really messed up…" She looks up at Stefan as he steps forward muttering about how it was going to be fine and how she was going to be fine. Adele rubs her left arm as she watches Stefan send the two boys and Vickie up to Jeremy's room as Elena comes to stand next to her.

By the look in his eyes Adele could see there was more happening to Vickie then just being high. "Stefan…" Stefan's eyes meet hers and she takes a step towards him. "What's wrong with her Stefan?" Stefan sighs as he glances between the both of them. "She's transiting." Adele eyes widen and Elena's hand slips into hers. "Transiting into what?" Adele knows as she turns her head to look at her sister. "A vampire." Adele whispers and Elena looks back at her. "What?"

"Damon must have gotten to her, she's new. She hasn't completed her transformation yet." Adele's lips were set in a straight line and all emotion had vanished from her eyes as she looked up at Stefan. "How does she do that?" Elena asks as she glances between the two. "She has to feed on human blood." The whole room stands still as Elena took a deep breath and Adele gives her hand a reassuring squeeze. "And if she doesn't?" Adele whispers and Stefan thinks for a spilt second that maybe he should lie but right now lying wouldn't help anything. "She'll die."

~x~

She lets a sigh escape her, the only real sign of emotion you can tell she has as she leans up against the table next to Stefan, the both of them watching as Elena paced. There was a part of Adele's mind running over the conversion that just took place. There was something off about the conversion, something that popped out at her but she couldn't put her finger on it…

"Wait a second…" Stefan turns just slightly to look at Adele and he could see the wheels turning just below the surface. "She needs human blood to finish the transition." Stefan nods. "She may only have a few hours." Adele nods and Stefan see's that the comment goes over her head because he can see she has something else on her mind. "And you sent her up stairs with my brother…my human brother?" Her question makes Elena pause for a quick second before she continues her pacing. "She's upstairs with him right now." Elena comment makes Adele look at her but she says nothing.

"She doesn't know what's happening to her yet." Stefan assures and Adele nods shoving her hands into the pocket of Call of Duty hoodie. "Well when is she going to know?" Elena asks and Adele is starting to get annoyed by her pacing. "Right now she doesn't remember anything because part of her is still human. Slowly the deeper she gets into the transition the memories will start to come back and then she'll know she has to make a choice." Adele doesn't say anything; she just lets the words settle.

Elena turns and it wasn't a surprise to Adele when she decides to throw in her own drama. "The same choice you made?" Tension rose in the air and Adele can only run a hand across her forehead as she watches Elena walk off before turning to Stefan. "This is not the time for that, so stop the drama bullshit we need a plan." Though his mind was wrapped around Elena, he couldn't help but smile down at her.

Elena decides that it's time to get diner ready as Adele and Stefan try to come up with a plan to save Vickie and Matt follows Elena around. "She doesn't have to kill anyone right?" Stefan glances up as Adele walks the length of the living room. "Just a good amount of Human blood will do right?" Stefan doesn't have a chance to come up with an answer before they hear Matt calling out Vickie's name and Adele is gone before he can register what is happening.

"Vickie!" She calls as she follows Matt out the front door. Vickie is gone before they can get outside and Adele stops at the end of the steps, Elena coming to stand beside her. "She was fine and then she just freaked out." Nobody turned back to look at Jeremy as Matt shouted something about going to look for her and Adele kept glancing around them, wondering exactly where a druggie would go to get away from the world.

"I can track her." His voice is distanced as her blue eyes narrow. "Go." Elena nods and Stefan is also gone. She takes a minute as her mind finally comes to a conclusion as to where she would go, but no one is around for her to inform them and she frowns.

~x~

Adele watches as Elena and Jeremy pick up the dishes from diner from her spot next to Jeremy on the kitchen counter, Adele wasn't too hungry so she chose to snack on a bag of skittles instead. It was Jeremy who spoke up first. "Maybe we should check in with Matt." Adele shakes her head before placing a reassuring hand on her younger brother's shoulder. "He'll call when he finds her." Jeremy sighs as he glances back at her. "Well what are we supposed to do?" Adele gives him a soft smile as Elena answers for her.

"We wait…were supposed to wait." There was a look on Jeremy's face that matches what Adele is feeling but Elena is right, at this moment all they could do was wait and hope for the best for Jeremy's sake. Jeremy turns to face Adele and he sighs as he looks up at her. "I don't know what's wrong with her." There's a look of depression in his eyes, depression to help Vickie, to know what is wrong and save her from whatever it was and Adele frowns. "She's going to be fine…" Elena nods as she steps up to Jeremy. "She'll be fine…we'll all be fine." Jeremy looks between his two older sisters before he nods lightly taking the plates from Elena's hands.

The doorbell rings and Elena is the first to act after they all share a look of curiosity. Adele jumps from the counter following Elena shooting a look to Jeremy as he follows behind her. As Elena is opening the door Adele catches just the slightest glance of Damon Salvatore before Elena tries but fails to slam the door on him. As he pushes the door back open Adele sends a quick glances over her shoulder. "Jeremy…" She sends him a smile as he looks at her. "Go upstairs." Jeremy frowns at her looking back up at the man in the doorway. He was about to refuse but after taking one last look at Adele he decides against it, nodding as he makes his way up stairs.

Adele looks back up to the man in black and flashes him a crooked smirk. Damon can't help but notice the hint of humor in her blue eyes as she looks at him, yet when he glances at the sister beside her all he sees is fear. "You're afraid of me." Elena stays silent as the blonde laughs. "Hardly." Damon glances at her and she raises an eyebrow at him as if to challenge him. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess Stefan finally fessed up." Elena swallows thickly and Adele glances quickly at her before looking back at Damon. She crosses her arms and leans against the door frame.

"Maybe to her. Me? I've known the whole time." Damon doesn't realize it but he takes a step towards her, leaving only about an inch between them. "Really? Do tell…" Her blue eyes are locked on his blue eyes and for a second she forgets how to speak. After a moment of gaining her composure she gives him another crooked smirk. "Compulsion doesn't work on someone who takes vervain, so you can bet I followed your cute ass at the Founder's Party." A slow smirk forms on his lips and he doesn't reply.

Elena's heart is racing as she looks between her sister and Damon, their eyes are lock and neither of them looks willing to look away afraid of losing a game only they know of. There close, there chest are almost touching with every breath they take. Elena swallows thickly wanting to do something to get her sister away from him, but too afraid to move.

Finally building up a sliver of bravery, she places a hand on her sister's shoulder looking up at Damon. "Stay away from us." Her voice snaps Adele's eyes from Damon as she looks at her sister but Damon's gaze lingers on her for a moment before he to looks at Elena. "No need to be rude…I'm just looking for Stefan." He shrugs lightly and Elena wants to pull Adele back because she has yet to move away from him.

"Can I come in? Oh wait…of course I can. I've been invited." As he steps forward Adele moves back, with every step she takes back he moves forward and they keep the same inch between them as he closes the door and comes to a stop, his eyes are locked once again on hers. This time she breaks eye contact with him as she moves away and his eyes follow her briefly before he turns his attention to Elena. "We can cut to the chase…I'm not here to kill you…right now. That wouldn't serve my greater agenda." Adele nods turning back to look at Damon. "That's reassuring." She smiles and he glances at her before looking back at Elena.

"So where's Stefan?" His voice deepens and there's a dangerous tone behind it that makes both girls shiver, both for different reasons. Elena straightens up as she looks up at Damon. "He's out looking for Vickie." Damon glances past her to Adele who nods. "Sorry." She mouths and he looks back at Elena. "Don't look at me with those judgy little eyes. That girl is going to thank me for what I did to her."

"Did you thank Katherine?" Damon freezes and Adele can see that what Elena just mentioned was a low blow. Damon's eyes meet hers before he turns his back to them. "Got the whole life story huh?" Elena nods. "I got enough." Adele glances between the two. "Oh I doubt that."

"Tell my brother I'm looking for him." With that he begins out the door only stopping to warn them about who they invite in from now on. After he is out of the house Adele looks at Elena before making a break for the door. "Adele what are you doing?" Adele ignores Elena as she hops down the steps of the porch and Damon stops just at the end of the drive way turning back to watch her as she makes her way towards him.

"Need something?" She takes a deep breath as she stops a couple feet away from him. "No…But I think there's something you need." Damon frowns at her. "What are you going on about?" She smiles. "So I noticed your ring is missing…" Damon raises an eyebrow at her. "What do you know?" She laughs lightly and the sound sends a shiver down his spine. "I know you need it to walk in the sun and I know Stefan took it."

"Which is why I need to find him, do you know where he is?" She shakes her head and he sighs. "Then you're no use to me." Adele rolls her eyes as he turns away. "Then I guess you won't be needing this." Damon stops and just for the hell of it he turns back. "Is that…" Adele nods. "Your ring? It sure looks like it." Adele takes a step back and moves the ring out of Damon's reach as he makes a move to grab it. "Whoa…no."

Damon growls and she laughs. "That's not going to help you get it back any faster." Damon is almost positive that this girl has a death wish as she twirls the ring around her fingers. "I could rip your throat out…" Adele glances up at him before spinning around and looking back up at the house. "You could…" She glances back at him with a small smirk. "But will you?" She shakes her head. "I think not." With that she makes a move to go back to the house.

She that she was planning on walking away he frowns before grabbing a hold of her upper arm, he spins her back around to face him. "Don't be too sure about that." She bites her bottom lip lightly as she looks up at him. "Oh…I'm sure. I'm very sure." There's a moment of silence between them as they just look at one another before Damon grunts. "What do you want?"

Adele sighs. "I want you to leave my family alone and when I say family I mean extended as well. Caroline, Tyler, Matt, all of them. They have nothing to do with the hatred you have for your brother and leave Elena out of it. Just because you didn't get the girl way back when doesn't mean she has to suffer."

"You know when I first met you…it didn't seem like you cared too much." She shrugs. "Well I'm just full of surprises." He smirks down at her. "I'll keep that in mind." She nods and Damon notices all the humor that was once displayed in her blue eyes was now gone. "I love my family no matter how annoying they can get and I won't hesitate to shove a stake through your heart if one of them gets hurt because of you." Her sweet voice took on a dangerous edge that had Damon narrowing his eyes. "What makes you think you can?"

"There's things no one knows Damon…" She holds out her hand and Damon glances down at it before looking back up at her. He slowly takes the ring and slips it on. "I would check the woods by the old cemetery for your brother, I heard Jenna's boyfriend talking about hunting vampires tonight." She shrugs lightly turning away. "How did you get the ring?" She turns back, shoving her hands into the pocket of her hoodie. "What?"

"The ring…Stefan had it and I know he didn't give it to you. How did you get it without him noticing?" Adele takes a deep breath. "Just a little trick of mine…" She smiles up at him lightly. "Let's just think of it as my little secret."

~x~

There's a silence between the two sisters as they wait for Stefan to return, by the glances Elena sends her way Adele can see that she has something to say. "What is it Elena?" Elena turns to look at her and Adele glances at her. "What were you thinking?" Adele shrugs lightly. "Don't worry about what I do Elena."

"You know how stupid that move was? He could have hurt you…or worse, he could have killed you. The guy is dangerous." Adele peers down at her IPhone in her lap as it vibrates, picking it up and reading the text from Caroline; she ignores Elena completely which makes Elena roll her eyes. Both girls look up as Stefan comes up the porch steps and Elena rushes forward when she sees the blood on his shirt. Adele takes her time in getting over to them.

"You're bleeding." He assures her he's okay as Adele reaches them. "So?" He glances at her. "I couldn't stop her." Adele takes a deep breath as Elena's eyes widen. "I tired." Adele nods slowly closing her eyes for a brief moment. "What does that mean?" Elena's voice is filled with horror and Adele has a feeling she knows exactly what that means she just doesn't want to believe it. "She fed Elena." Adele mutters.

"And I lost her." Stefan adds. What were they supposed to tell Jeremy? Because she sure as hell wasn't about to tell him the truth. "I'm going to find her; I'm going to show her she can live like me. I'm not going to let her hurt anyone. I promise." Adele takes a small step forward. "What am I supposed to tell Jeremy?"

"And Matt?" Elena adds and Adele had completely forgotten about him. "Well come up with a story." Adele nods; at this point she'll do anything to make sure Jeremy is okay. "You mean we'll come up with a lie?" Adele turns towards Elena hoping Elena wasn't about to turn this situation into her own drama. "I'm so sorry." Stefan sighs.

"I gave you today just like you asked, and I understand that you wouldn't do anything to hurt me and I promise that I will keep your secret but…I can't be with you Stefan." Adele bites her tongue forcing back what she wants to say, she should have known better then to think Elena wouldn't turn this into something about her. Adele glances at Stefan just to see his reaction and almost feels sorry for him when she sees the heartbroken look upon his face.

"I'm sorry, I can't…" Adele watches as her sister runs into the house slamming the door behind her before she sighs and runs a hand down her make up free face. She sighs softly as she takes a seat on the steps and a moment later Stefan takes a seat next to her. She shakes her head as he looks at her. "I shouldn't have come back…I don't know why I did…"

"I'm going to do everything I can to make this right…" She nods. "I know." She looks up at him. "I know you will, I don't blame you for anything that has happened here tonight Stefan. Elena might but Elena likes to keep her own drama above the more important drama. What am I supposed to tell Jeremy? We already lost both our parents Jeremy can't afford to lose anyone else he loves. And Matt, the only person he has left is Vickie, his mom is a dead beat and I don't know what happened to his dad, Vickie is the only family he has left…"

"Don't worry…we'll tell them something. Everything is going to be okay." She nods. "I wish I could believe that…" Stefan tilts his head slightly in confusion but before he has a chance to ask she turns away from him. "I don't want anyone else to get hurt… Especially not Tyler or Caroline or anyone else in my family…Jeremy, Elena and I have already lost so much…" There was a deep sadness in her blue eyes that made Stefan turn completely to face her. "Adele…" She turns her head to look at him. "Did something happen to you while you were gone over the summer?" She blinks a few times before shrugging. "I don't remember." Stefan frowns as she stands and leaves him sitting on the porch steps as she retreats back into the house. He sighs as he looks at the closed door.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Review?<strong>_


	4. Chapter 4

**I am so sorry. I'm trying to update this as fast as I can but there's just so much going on right now, that it's hard to find the time. I'll try to update faster I promise, but I can't be sure when the next one will be up. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

**Review. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4: Haunted<strong>

She stuffs her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket as she advances towards Tyler at the other end of the parking lot. He had texted her not to long ago to meet him in the parking lot of the school so they could go get something to eat. She could just make out the four figures all standing beside Tyler's car and she wondered what kind of trouble he had gotten himself into now.

It was only when she got close enough to see properly in the darkness of the empty parking lot that she notices that it's Damon and Stefan Salvatore standing there with Tyler and Stefan was holding back a newly turned Vickie Donavan. "Tyler!" Adele yells as she figures nothing good could be coming from him standing in front of Damon Salvatore.

Tyler wasn't usually scared very easily but the image of Vickie's face flashed through his mind a few more times as he looked between Stefan and the guy who must have been the brother everyone in school said he had and he found himself feeling just a little freaked out. "What's going on here Stefan? What's wrong with her?"

"You don't talk." His attention turns away from Stefan and Vickie to look at the guy who still remanded nameless. Though there was something oddly frightening about the guy Tyler wasn't about to back down, that just wasn't in his nature. "Screw you Dude." He watches the guy narrow his blue eyes before scoffing. "Dude? Really? Dude?"

"Damon…" Damon turns his attention briefly to his younger brother before turning back to Tyler, having every intention in him to kill him here and now. Adele Gilberts warning rang clear in his head and he almost thought better of his idea to kill the boy. "Damon, don't." Damon sighs. "Come on…who would miss this idiot?"

"Tyler!" _You had to ask. _It's a quick thought as they all turn to see the blonde that was invading almost every thought that ran though Damon's mind since he had spoken to her back at the Gilbert house, when she had been so bold as to try and strike a deal with him. Stefan turns back to Damon slowly to say what Damon already knew. "She would." Damon glares at him before his eyes come back to the beautiful blonde. "What makes you think I care?"

Adele is steps away from them as Damon is watching her. Tyler glances between the two of them, not exactly happy with the sudden lustful look in Damon's blue eyes and he wasn't sure if it was because he was just pissed or because he wanted to get the guy to look away from Adele, but he lands his hardest punch to the guys jaw, shock turning his body cold when the guy didn't even flinch.

Damon reaches out and grabs him by the neck pulling him closer as Adele finally reaches them. "Stop!" She yells as she steps up next to the two of them. "Damon let him go." Damon's icy blue eyes met her clear blue eyes with the pinkish hue and he almost curses. There's a look just past the surface of those blue eyes and if you weren't looking for it, you wouldn't see it. It was a pleading look. A plea for him to spare the human's life and he knew with a simple look into those blue eyes that he couldn't do it, if it had been anyone else…he realizes, he wouldn't have hesitated to kill the boy. Now he was just determent to get away from her.

Looking back at Tyler, Damon's pupils dilate. "None of us were here." Tyler barely as a chance to nod before Damon shoves him with a force that sends him flying to the other side of the car. Adele glares at the spot Damon was just standing before making her way over to Tyler and she kneels down next to him checking for injures. "Are you okay?" He nods slowly. "Yeah, I guess I just fell." He sends her a smile. "You finally made it." She laughs lightly. "Yeah…so how about that food you promised?"

~x~

It was half a shock to see Jeremy walking into the kitchen so early in the morning, fully dressed and ready for the day that awaits him. Adele looks past him to the concerned face of Elena before turning back to look at Jeremy, as she takes another bite of the fruit loops in her bowl. "Where are you headed so early in the morning?" Jeremy smiles slightly at her. "To the police station there organizing a search party for Vickie."

Elena notices how there's a pause in Adele's movements as she makes her way to the sink, but it wasn't a long enough pause for Jeremy to notice and Elena thinks maybe Adele will back her up on this. "Adele tell him he should go to school, that if the police find anything they will call." She should have known better. Adele gives Jeremy the slightest smile. "Just make sure you don't fall behind anymore then you already are we don't need you falling so far behind you can't catch up and call me if you find anything."

Elena watches as her sister picks up her abandoned IPhone from the counter. "Can you give me a ride?" Her blue eyes glance at Jeremy before returning to the brightly lit screen. "Of course, wait for me in the car I'll be right there." Elena listens for the click of the front door before turning back to her sister. Placing the phone carefully on the counter so she can grabs her bag from the counter across from her. "You can't be serious."

Adele barely pauses in her stride to the front door, Elena following closely behind her. "Cool you're jets Elena. Let him hold on to that tiny bit of hope that he'll find her, just until we can come up with something to tell him either wise. Okay?" She didn't stop to hear what Elena had to say as she swings the front door open sending sunlight pouring over her 5'6 frame. "Do you need a ride somewhere?" Elena shakes her head at her and Adele smiles tightly. "Then have a good day sister."

Elena curses under her breath as she watches the door close. If Adele wasn't planning on doing anything to help her with Jeremy then she would have to figure it out by herself and to do that she needed to pay a visit to Stefan. Just thinking his name makes her need to see him stronger and she wondered briefly if going to see him was really for Jeremy's need to get over Vickie or purely for her own needs.

~x~

There was a silence throughout the Salvatore bordering house or at least there was until Vickie started speaking…again, and Damon wondered if the girl ever shut up, he was after all trying to read. She was asking to call her brother and after a 10 second conversion with Stefan, Vickie was retrieving her phone from her pocket and Damon could hear the light beeping of the numbers as she dialed.

He toned out the conversion as his eyes continued to skim over the headlines and articles of the newspaper in his hands. He found himself frowning as he failed to find what he was looking for. "There is nothing about that Logan guy I killed in here." He folded the paper back up and without realizing it he reaches over and picks up the object made of gold next to him, needing to do something with his hands. "Not a word. This one is covered up good."

"What is that?" Damon sends the girl a quick glance. "This is a very special, very old compass." Sending his gaze over to his brother a small smirk laces his lips. "What was Logan Fell doing with it? Aren't you curious?" Stefan momentarily forgetting Vickie looks up at him. "Well if your so worried someone is on to you Damon, why don't just leave town?"

"We should all be worried. Besides, I've decided to stick around." Stefan tilts his head slightly. "I've found something interesting." Vickie smirks slowly as she looks over to the older Salvatore. "You mean like Adele Gilbert?" The name sends a shock up his spine that for a split second makes him freeze. "And what would give you such a crazy Idea like that?" Vickie shrugs. "Just the way you looked at her last night…" Bored with the conversion Damon places the paper on the table next to him the Compass next to it and stands. "I'm leaving." He announces and Stefan can't help but notice how tense he had gotten the minute Adele's name was brought up.

~x~

Adele curses as she marches up the steps of the porch. She had the damn phone in her hands before she walked out the door how could she forget it? Opening the front door, she comes face to face with Elena. "I forgot my phone." Elena smiles slightly holding up the IPhone to eye level and Adele nods slowly taking it. "Thanks." She mutters turning on her heels to begin back down the steps.

"Wait…" Adele pauses and Elena takes a step forward. "Can you come with me over to Stefan's?" Elena sighs as a moment of silence passes. "You have a car and I have plans." Reaching out Elena takes her hand and Adele turns her head to look at her. "Please…I don't want to go alone." Another moment of silence passes before Adele nods. "Fine." Elena smiles just slightly. "Thank you." Adele yanks her hand lightly from Elena's grip. "Let's go before I change my mind."

The buzzing in the cup holder next to Adele was starting to annoy Elena and she glanced down at it, seeing the name flashing on the screen. "Are you mad at Caroline or something?" Adele sighs. "No…But I just canceled on her, so I can bet she's mad at me." Elena nods as the buzzing starts again. "I don't think she's going to stop until you answer." Adele nods, reaching over for the phone. "I should have left it at home." She mutters pushing the talk button and pressing it to her ear. "Caroline, babe I was just going to call you." Elena hides a smile as she turns to look at the scenery changing around her.

Adele places the phone in the cup holder as she pulls into the drive way of the boarding house. Caroline was still ranting on and Adele figured she could place the phone down for a minute, when it came to Caroline and shopping she could go on and on without out stopping to take a single breath.

Picking up the phone she sighs placing it to her ear. "Caroline please…I'm sorry okay? I promise I will go on a shopping spree with you just not today." Caroline huffs muttering something before changing the subject to Halloween costumes and Adele smiles lightly as she starts a rant on the perfect costume that was sure to leave an impression.

~x~

He had rushed out of the room so fast just to get away from the sudden uncomfortable conversion without actually deciding where he was headed. He pauses just beside the front door as he hears the rumble of an engine coming up the drive way. The engine dies down before he hears voices, two voices, both female and he smirks. "Don't wear that again, that was the most ridicules thing you ever did." There was a short laugh that followed the first voice which was most diffidently Elena's voice. "That's what I'm trying to tell her but she won't listen to me."

Damon's eyes drift close for a second. He had left Stefan and Vickie upstairs to get away from a conversion about this one girl and here she was walking up the front porch. Well on the plus side…it looks like he now has something to do.

He smirks as he opens the door leaning against the door frame and watches as Elena freezes and Adele seems to not even notice him. It almost annoys him as he watches her walk towards the end of the porch, talking to it…sounds like Caroline to him.

He finds himself half present for his little banter with Elena before she rushes past him to find his little brother closing the door behind her as he steps onto the porch. Adele hears the door closing and turns from leaning against the railing, her blue eyes catching the sight of Damon Salvatore, the steady rhythm of her heart speeds up and she wills it to slow down in fear he could hear it. "Caroline I'll have to call you back." She mutters hanging up the phone against Caroline's protest.

"Where's Elena?" She calls over the short distance between them and he turns to gaze at her. "Talking with Stefan." She sighs shoving her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket. "Great, so I'm stuck here." Her voice offered that she wasn't too happy about that. In agreeing to come here with Elena she never gave any thought as to what she would do when she got there. "I'm totally not in my right state of mind…I need a drink." She mutters and Damon sends her a smirk. "I can help you with that." She glances up as if she forgot he was there.

"I'm planning on just raiding your alcohol supply because I'm sure you have quite the collection but I'll humor you. How so?" His smirk widens, as if the girl couldn't get any more attractive, she's always as feisty as she looks…almost like a kitten and that thought alone makes his smirk turn into a crooked smile.

"I'm waiting for an answer Salvatore, or should I just make good on my threat to steal your alcohol?" Damon takes a step towards her. "Now now…no need to get all flustered, you'll get your drink and it won't be from my collection I'm almost positive you can't handle _my _stuff." She raises a waxed eyebrow at him. "Really? Positive huh? You strike me as a…scotch or bourbon kind of guy…maybe just whiskey in general while I prefer anything strong enough to make getting through the day way more bearable, which usually includes whiskey and if Jenna is feeling extra brave, the occasional shot of rum."

He's speechless for a moment and she laughs. "Haven't you ever heard don't judge a book by its cover?" He nods. "I'll have to take that more seriously from now on. On to a different note…how about we hit the grill where I can get you that drink you want." She sighs. "As tempting as that offer is because I am starving…I can't. I'm Elena's ride."

"So leave her your keys." There's a moment of silence as Adele looks at the vampire in front of her, and the horrified stare indicates to him that he had struck a nerve. "Something wrong?" Adele nods. "Everything about what you just said to me was wrong. Leave her my keys…you are crazy. Nobody drives my car but me."

"I'm sure Elena will take good care of the car." Adele shakes her head. "No…absolutely not." Damon sighs, he couldn't blame her. He doesn't like anyone driving his car as well. "Okay…so leave her here. I'm sure my brother can keep her very entertained." She takes a deep breath glancing over to the front door. "If Stefan does something else to make her all "my love life sucks" and I'm not here she's going to get so mad at me…" Damon stands there, letting her come to her own decision. "Okay." He smirks as he follows her down the steps of the porch.

"We're taking my car." Changing her direction Adele follows behind Damon as they reach the blue car. "1967 Chevy Camaro." Damon sends a smirk over his shoulder. "In perfect condition." She nods, examining the car as she circles around it. "On the outside, we'll just see how it drives."

~x~

Adele smiles thanks to the waitress as she sets the chicken nuggets and fries down in front of her and watches as the waitress gives Damon a look that says "I get off in 5." And Adele laughs as Damon gives a grunt. Damon smirks before shaking his head as he watches her take a sip of the bourbon he compelled the bar tender to give to her. Finally as all the flirting waitresses and glaring bar tenders are out of earshot Damon turns to fully face her. "Alright Kitten, You didn't answer my question." Ignoring her sudden pet name, she glances at him. "Can you repeat it?"

"Why did you leave town?" She sighs. "I decided that if I was going to get over my parents death, I was going to do it on my own terms and it just didn't involve everyone here." Taking the last sip out of his glass Damon orders another drink. "Where did you go?" She nibbles at a fry as she thinks. "I started in North Carolina, I ended up in Florida…how or why…I don't know. I guess I stayed there till I decided it was time to come home. The only thing is it doesn't feel much like home anymore."

"What do you mean?" She shrugs lightly as she turns to look at him. "Everyone that I love is here, but there was just something about being away…" Damon nods. "Yeah…I know what you mean. What did you do in Florida?" Adele frowns slightly. "Uh…" She pauses raising an eyebrow at him. "I can't remember." Damon has no time to register the meaning behind that before his sensitive hearing picks up on a conversion across the room.

"Mayor Lockwood and his wife are talking about Vampires." Adele's eyes widen. "What? What are they saying?" He holds up a finger to shush her, a moment passes before she speaks. "Damon…" He looks at her. "Their wondering if there safe." Adele stares at him for a moment before replying. "Are they?"

Damon frowns. "I'm kidding." He sighs turning back to look ahead of him. "No you're not." She laughs. "Well can you blame me?" Her voice drops to below a whisper. "You have killed like a dozen people since arriving." Damon turns his head back to her. "And we were having such a good time." She giggles lightly shaking her head. "Okay, I'm sorry. We won't talk about that." Damon raises an eyebrow at her. "Promise?" She nods. "Promise."

~x~

The ride back to the boarding house was an interesting one to say the least and she was curious as to why he was starting to call her Kitten but decided not to ask him. Adele understands the concerns that everyone has about Damon Salvatore but being alone with him, there was something about him that didn't seem to dangerous, but there was that nagging voice at the back of her mind that said Damon Salvatore is responsible for all the deaths in town, don't trust him, he's an asshole!

So as to distract her from her thoughts of the guy she listens to the click of her heels as she walks towards the area of the house that Damon mentioned Elena was. She slows to a stop and tilts her head to the side. There sure was an interesting sight before her and it wasn't like that sight of Vickie threating Elena pissed her off or anything…

"And I won't think twice about ripping your little head off…" Vickie's new amazing hearing picks up on a sound from behind her and she turns her head, she barely notices that Adele is the one holding the gun that is pointed at her as she swallows thickly. "Why don't you let Elena go, before this gets really ugly." Vickie took a few moments to answer, running through the many thoughts that were going through her mind, one standing out more than the others. "You can't kill me with a gun."

"But I can shot you in the head and laugh at your agony. Wooden bullets princess." Vickie nods slowly as her eyes met hers and there's a tint of black around the edges of her once fully blue eyes. Slowly as if calculating every step they take, they switch places and Adele is left standing in front of a fallen Elena. "Get lost Donavan." And Adele doesn't lower the gun till she's out of sight for a good 10 seconds.

Damon watches the scene play out from the other room all the while wondering exactly where she had been hiding a gun on her. He never gave any thought that this beautiful girl he had spent the whole morning with was armed with a weapon that could very possibly kill him if not make it easier to.

Turning around Adele helps Elena to her feet. "Where is Stefan?" Elena shrugs lightly. "I think in the kitchen." Adele nods. "What was he thinking leaving you alone in here with her? Stefan! Stefan we need to talk! Now!" It took a moment for Stefan to appear. "What's wrong?" He ask as he takes in the not so happy look on Adele's face. "We need to talk. Outside." Adele's tone of voice shows him there's no room for questioning and he follows them from the house silently.

"She threated me." Stefan nods as he looks up at Elena. "She's on edge, imagine every scenes of your body operating at super speed, I mean she's uncomfortable in her own skin and then when you throw in her other issues…" Adele cuts him off. "How long before it settles? Hours, days, weeks?" Stefan shakes his head looking at her. "There's no rule book."

"Well how long before you learned how to control it?" Elena asks and Adele glances at her. "A while, but I didn't have anybody helping me. I had to do it on my own. The thing is it's hard to resist certain people, especially when you're new. It's hard to separate your feelings. Love, Lust, Anger, Desire, it can all blur into one urge, Hunger." Elena's eyes widen and Adele's expression turns cold. "What does that mean?" Stefan looks between the two sisters. "It means that Jeremy can't see her. Not now, she might not able to resist him and could hurt him." Adele looks up at Stefan. "Or worse." Elena was starting to freak Adele could tell.

To save Elena from her sure to come heart attack Adele turns to look at the sky. "We need to go; I have a costume to fix up." Elena nods looking at her sister. "Let's go." Stefan sighs running his hand through his hair. "Girls…" Elena shakes her head. "Please Stefan…there's only so much I can take." Fishing her keys from her pocket she hands them off to Elena. "Go wait in the car I'll be right there."

Adele waits till Elena is out of hearing range before turning back to Stefan. "Don't talk just listen. She poses a direct threat to everyone I love. Jeremy especially, she already threated Elena and she already went after Tyler. Now I'm all cool with Vampires and everything as long as there not hurting anyone that I care about. So let me tell you Stefan what you're doing is good, it's cool and everything trying to give her a second chance, trying to help a girl in need and what not but if she comes near my family and tries to hurt anyone of them, I won't be a afraid to get one of the freshly sharpened stakes out of my trunk and shove it though her heart. Okay?" Stefan nods shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "I understand." She nods. "I'll see you later."

~x~

There's sound coming from the kitchen and Adele glances over at Jeremy as the two twins walk in, Adele sighs as she hears he's on the phone begging Vickie to call him. "Hey…" Jeremy glances over at them, a look on his face that says he didn't hear them come in. "So um we should hang out tonight. The three of us, we haven't done that in a while. We could go to the Halloween thing at school." Adele smiles as she picks a grape out of the fruit bowl popping it into her mouth as she turns to Elena. "Yeah, I have to be there anyways." Jeremy nods looking back at them. "Cool, yeah. Should be fun, can't wait."

"I know your upset about Vicki, I heard she called Matt but you can't be with her." Adele sighs, how could this be shocking to her, Elena would be the one to bring up a nasty topic when all is going somewhat good. "She needs to get better, the best thing you can do for her is let her go." Jeremy turns and looks at her, Adele takes a step back towards the hallway. "What does that even mean, let her go? Oh okay sure…" He looks between them. "Since were such experts on letting people go." Flashes of crushed metal and Wickery Bridge passes though Adele's mind and she gasps, clinching at her chest. There was this deep heart wincing pain, what is it? God it hurt so badly. Going unnoticed by Jeremy and Elena as she backs out of the room, taking a couple slow deep breaths and shutting her eyes trying to will the pain to go away.

"For mouths after mom and dad died, I felt like crap…" Adele whimpers as the pictures continue to flash. Images that she can't make out and the pain wouldn't stop. She grabs the railing of the stairs as tears will up in the corner of her eyes. She takes a few slow breaths and closes her eyes, blocking out all sounds around her and focusing on something else. Focusing on the color blue, Icy blue for that matter and it was the prettiest blue she had ever seen. "Adele…" Jeremy places a hand on his sister's shoulder and Adele jumps her eyes snapping open to look up at him. "Are you okay?" Adele nods. "Yeah, fine. I'm going to go get ready." She whispers in an attempt to sound convincing, before running up the stairs.

~x~

Adele makes sure she has her phone and anything else she might need as she makes her way toward Caroline who stood talking to Bonnie. Once she decided to leave earlier, she making it her personal mission to avoid Jeremy and Elena for as long as possible tonight but it shouldn't be too hard seeing as there had to be the whole town at the school tonight, Right?

She gives Caroline a smirk as she reaches them and Caroline takes a long look at her. "That is like the sexist costume ever. You look so fucking hot." Adele lets out a slow laugh. "Well I tried." Turning her stunningly bright blue eyes over to the side she shoots the girl standing there a small forced smile. "Hello Bonnie." Bonnie Bennett returns her small smile but stays silent. It was never some big secret that Bonnie and Adele never saw eye to eye there for they never truly got along, not including the fact that Bonnie had a serious crush on Adele's long term ex-boyfriend Michael "Mikey" Landon.

"That's like the most amazing cat costume ever." Caroline gushes and Adele sends her a bright toothy grin. "It's a leopard costume." She mutters. Not bothering to give Tyler time to ask as he reaches them with three plastic cups in his hands before she snatches one and takes a sip of it. He laughs before turning to the two other girls asking them if they would care for a cup. Bonnie respectfully declines claiming she would be hung over till thanksgiving…again and Caroline takes a cup vowing to drink till someone's hot enough to make out with.

Finishing off the drink, she's just starting to relax when her phone buzzes in the band of her boot and she sighs bending down to retrieve it. "Man, I'm never going to hear the end of it for leaving without them." She groans and Caroline gives her a small sympathetic smile. "Just answer it; you might as well get it over with." Adele sighs before walking a few paces away from all the people.

"Look Elena, I'm sorry I left without you but I…" Elena cuts her off, sounding slightly out of breath and a little more than panicked. "Have you seen Jeremy?" Taking a glance around her surrounding Adele frowns, this conversion wasn't getting to anything good she was 99.9 percent certain. "No not since I left why?"

"Vickie's at the school…" She's silent for a moment letting the words process in her mind. "Where are you?" Elena mutters something to someone in the back ground before answering her. "I'm looking for him; I just thought I'd tell you what's happening so you could help. Where are you?"

"In the front of the school with Caroline and Tyler, I'll look for him in the parking lot. I'll text you if I find him first." Elena nods though the phone. "And I'll text you if I find him first." Hanging up Adele reaches down to retrieve her car keys from her boot while putting back her phone. Taking off towards the parking lot she keeps her eyes open for Jeremy or anyone who might know where he was.

Reaching her mustang she unlocks the truck making sure no one was around as she reaches in the back pulling forward a wooden chest. Punching in the combination on the lock pad she lifts the top off and fishes in pulling out both her gun and one of the many sharpened wooden stakes. Closing the chest she pushes it back her eyes landing on a shoe box towards a corner of the trunk. Frowning she pulls it out staring at it for a moment.

She has half a thought to open it before her thoughts return back to finding Jeremy before Vickie does and she throws the box back down slamming the trunk closed. Placing the wooden stake down in her boot, she turns back to the school slipping the gun into the waist band of her skirt keeping her eyes on everyone who passes by her. She doesn't want to hurt Vickie, though she didn't exactly like the girl but hurting Vickie would hurt Jeremy, but she wasn't about to let her hurt someone so she just needed to make sure she was prepared for anything.

~x~

Adele spots the source to all there problems at the moment talking to Bonnie and before she can talk herself out of it she's walking towards them. Coming up behind him she pauses waiting for him to finish his conversion with Bonnie. Adele listens to them talk about the necklace Bonnie is wearing, before he reaches out to take it and it burns him. Bonnie seems a little more shocked then Damon before she takes off running and Adele snickers. "So much for the act of bravery." Damon turns his eyes showing off a bit of surprise as he looks at her. "How is it that you are so silent?" Looking back at the vampire in front of her she rolls her eyes. "Where's Vickie Damon?"

Damon shrugs, picking at the piece of candy he had taken from the black bowl behind him. "How am I supposed to know? I thought Stefan was in charge of her." She nods. "You think you're so sly. You're the one who let her go, so where is she?" He nods, narrowing his icy blue eyes. "I am…but I have no idea where she could possibly be." Staring up at him she takes a deep clamming breath before nodding and turning away from him. He reaches out grabbing her wrist, and swallows back the urge to pull away as her skin sends a shock up his arm. She suddenly intakes a deep breath before looking up at him and her eyes are wide.

"Where are you going?" His voice is barely above a whisper and she closes her eyes for a moment before gazing back up at him. "I have to go find my brother before she hurts him." He lets her pull her wrist from him and watches as she rushes off disappearing into the wave of bodies surrounding them.

~x~

"I have to leave." Jeremy looks down at the girl pressed against him a wave of surprise running though his vines. "What where?" Vicki shakes her head looking up at him, running her hands over his shoulders and chest making Jeremy's head fall back for a moment. "I got to get out of here Jer; I can't go home with Matt. He just doesn't get it." Jeremy sighs. "No you can't, you can't just leave." Vicki laughs staying silent for a moment before an idea hits her that makes her smile. She leans up and places her hands on the sides of Jeremy's face. "Come with me." Jeremy gives a short laugh of surprise because there's nothing about this conversion that doesn't seem to surprise him and she laughs with him before placing a kiss to his lips.

She pulls away and looked at him, staring up into his beautiful brown eyes. "If you come with me we can be together forever." Jeremy nods, nothing could sound better than that at the moment. "Okay. Yeah." He agrees before kissing her once again.

Elena runs and she's not sure exactly where she is due to the amount of people cluttered in the small hall ways and the strobe lights that seemed to want to blind her and the cob webs that continued to pop up in her path. She could only hope that she'd find Jeremy in time or that Stefan or Adele would find him before it was too late.

~x~

Elena could hear Jeremy yelling as she runs through the back doors of the school where the buses were parked. She grabs a bored to defend herself and Jeremy as she runs towards the yelling. "Vickie No!" She screams as she notices Vickie is about to sink her every sharp teeth into Jeremy. Vickie looks up at her and throws Jeremy to the side in anger before going for Elena and she gets a hit in sending Elena flying into a pile of junk. As she starts her way over to Elena Stefan grabs her and pins her against the front of a bus much to her displeasure. Jeremy inching his way out to see what was happening spots the scene before him and freezes. Vickie manages to get Stefan off before disappearing.

Elena places a hand to her side as she gets to her feet before looking over to Stefan. "Go get inside!" He tells the both of them, glancing around him and Elena nods, running over to grab Jeremy by the arm, as the younger male doesn't seem to have the ability to move on his own. They make a break towards the closed door of the school as Stefan starts to check around them. Elena is able to make it half way through the door before Vickie grabs Jeremy and flings him into a trash can full of broken wood. She grabs for Elena and Elena had no chance of being able to fight back before she bites into the skin of her exposed neck and Elena lets out of scream of agony.

There's a moment when everything freezes and Stefan can't seem to find himself as he watches the horrifying scene in front of him unfold, by the time he does find his thoughts and is able to make a move there's a gasps from the young vampire and his eyes widen slightly.

Elena's brown eyes are wide as she watches Vickie fall to her knees, the wooden stake that is sticking out of her chest now stained with blood glistening in the moon light and Elena lifts her gaze to meet that of her sister's cold and unblinking stare. Elena at this moment in time was truly terrified, but what terrified her wasn't the dead body of her brothers girlfriend or her bothers screams, it was the sudden look of nothingness in her sisters blue eyes. The eyes that once held so much emotion were now empty.

Turing her eyes away from the body, Adele glances back at Stefan who stood restraining her younger brother. "Get him out of here." Her voice is almost as empty as her eyes and Elena swallows hard. Adele could briefly hear him talking on the phone as she circles the body, wondering exactly what she was to do to get rid of it. Bending down she grips the stake yanking it out and Elena turns away.

"How did you know we were up here?" Adele glances quickly at her. "I heard the screaming." Staying down low to the ground Adele looks back at Vickie. "Get out of here Elena, go check on Jeremy and get that bite cleaned up." Elena shakes her head. "I'm not leaving you here Adele…" Adele stands. "Yes you are, I don't need your help and sure as hell don't want it so get lost." Elena bites at her bottom lip to stop the tears that threaten to fall. "Go take care of Jeremy…he needs you more than I do." Nodding Elena leaves her sister with one last glance as she bends back down to the body.

There's about 3 minutes of nothing but a suffocating silence as Adele sits there, alone with her thoughts and not one of them is sorry for what she did and it starts to scare her. "You should go, I got this." Glancing over her shoulder she swallows back the urge to scream, because even at the sight of this beautiful man standing behind her makes her blood boil.

"Really? Now you got this? After I had to kill a girl younger than I am tonight because she was so close to killing my sister?" Standing up she turns to him so suddenly he has to take a step back. "You did this! This is your damn fault!" Damon sighs softly, pushing back the slow feeling of regret. "I thought you promised we wouldn't talk about this." Damon's head snapped to the side with the force behind the girls slap and he knows damn well he deserved it but it still makes his blood run hot. "Fuck you!" She snaps and he cracks his neck as he turns back to look at her, her eyes taking on a tint of black and there seems to be a fire burning just beyond the surface. "None of this matters to me! None of it!" As much as he tried to restrain it, he couldn't help but snap back at her.

"People are dying because of you! I don't see how it can't matter, and it does matter to you and you know it! Your acting like a monster, a heartless monster but you're not, why can't you just realize that!" She slaps him once more for her own personal satisfaction because she knows that it doesn't hurt him. He looks down at her with his blue eyes burning and she refuses to back down from him as he makes a jerking move towards her. "You don't scare me." She whispers through clinched teeth and he presses his lips together.

"You need to leave Kitten. Your siblings need you and You. Need. To. Leave." His words are forceful but she's not done yet. Looking up at him for a moment longer she takes a step towards him. "You know something Damon…I was actually starting to warm up to you, I was actually starting to like you…" She pauses to take a deep shaky breath. "But right now…I don't think I could hate someone as much as I hate you." And he watches once again as she disappears from sight before slowing letting out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. Her words really shouldn't have cut so deep.

"Adele!" She pauses in counting each step she takes closer to her mustang. Putting a smile on her face she turns to Matt as he reaches her. "What's up Donavon?" He gives her a smile. "Have you seen Vickie? I can't find her, she totally bailed on me." Adele frowns, taking a moment to answer. "I haven't seen her, but I'll tell you what if I do I'll be sure to call you." He nods sighing. "Is this what I'm in for? A lifetime of worrying about her?" Biting her bottom lip she shrugs. "I'm sorry Matt…You're an amazing brother Matt…I'm sure you'll figure out what to do." Looking down at her he can't help but hang his head and nod. "Maybe she went home." Adele smiles sadly. "Maybe."

~x~

Making it home in 10 minutes or less she spots Stefan sitting on the porch, most likely waiting for Elena. "Is she home?" Stefan shakes his head and she looks up at the house. "Where is he?" Stefan sighs. "Upstairs." She nods continuing into the house. It was silent and dark as she makes her way up the stairs and she stops just at the top. Seeing Jeremy though the open door of his bedroom makes her stomach twist and the first wave of guilt hits her.

Bending down to level with him she places her hands on his knees as he holds his legs to his chest. He looks down at her. "Do you understand what happened tonight?" He shakes his head. "No…I mean I know what I saw but I don't understand." His voice cracks and she sits on the edge of his bed. "She was going to kill Elena…I had to do what I did. If I could have done anything else I would have but I had no other option."

"Now she's dead. Vickie's dead." He cries and she places her hand on each side of his face. "I am so sorry Jeremy, I'm so sorry." He rocks back and forth looking at her as if she was the only thing that could save him. "Make it stop Adele…It hurts." She closes her eyes wrapping her arms around his sobbing form and he clinches to her. "I wish I could Jer…if there was anything I could do to make it stop I would."

"Why does everyone have to die on me?" Sighing she runs her hand through the back of his hair. "There is nothing I can say to you Jer, that could make this any better, there's nothing I can do to take this pain away from you as much as it kills me to attempt, but it's going to hurt, and it's going to hurt for a while but it does get better." His grip tightens on her and she bares her head in his shoulder. "If there was anything I could do Jeremy…I would."

His sobs slowly turn to hiccups as Elena finally arrives to take in the sight of them. Adele glances at her and Elena walks forward bending down to their level wrapping an arm around Jeremy and Adele and they each wrap an arm around her.

~x~

It was a good hour later before Elena suggests they go back out and talk with Stefan and instead of telling her to forget the vampire outside, she silently follows behind her. Stefan stands as they make their way out Adele closing the door softly behind her. "Are you okay?" Adele glances at Elena because there was no doubt that the guy in front of them was okay.

"I wanted to help her but…maybe this was for the best." Adele shakes her head, clenching and unclenching her fist. "It can't be." Stefan looks at her. "How is he?" Adele looks up at him. "He's a mess. I want to take it away; I can't stand seeing him like this." Elena nodded as Adele continues. "I don't want him going through this again…He's just a kid." Adele sucks in a shaky breath to calm her rising anger. "What can I do…what can I do, I'll do anything to help."

Elena looks down silently before looking back up her eyes wide with an idea. "Can you make him forget?" Stefan shakes his head. "Elena…" Adele takes a step back. "Stefan Please, He will never get pass this, this will haunt him for the rest of his life, I can't see him in so much pain…I need to take it away…somehow I need to make it go away." Stefan shakes his head once more and looks at her. "If I did it, there is no guarantee that it would work because of who I am, because of how I live. I don't have the ability to do it right." Adele takes a deep breath closing her eyes.

"I can do it." She jumps and spins around, Damon's blue eyes meet hers and she bites her bottom lip. He presses his lips together as he looks at her. "If that is what you want." Elena looks away but Adele steps towards him. "Please." Damon nods looking at her. "I'll do it. What do you want him to know?" She pauses looking away, getting her story together before she looks back up. "I want you to tell him, that Vicki left town, and she's not coming back. Tell him that he shouldn't look for her or worry about her, he's going to miss her but it's for the best." Damon nods and walks through the front door. Adele leaves Elena and Stefan to talk out their own issues, following after Damon and waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

~x~

Stopping at the top of the steps, Damon's gaze follows the petite blonde as she paces around at the bottom of the stairs. "It's done…He's sleeping." Adele's head snaps over to watch him descend down the stairs before she nods. He reaches the bottom stopping to study her. "Are you okay?" She glances up at him. "I don't know…I feel…hollow. Like there's nothing there."

"You did what you had to…" She sighs looking up at the ceiling. "I know that, but that doesn't make it any less easy to deal with." He places his hand on her shoulders and she closes her eyes briefly. "You can't regret what you did…" She nods. "I don't…I guess it's just more of the shock of the whole situation."

"You just need to sleep…It'll be fine tomorrow." Nodding again she looks away from him. He lightly reaches up and with a finger he turns her head back over to look at him. "I'm sorry." With that he lets her go and leaves the house, and she watches him go before sighing and making her way up to her room to take a long hot much needed shower.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Review please.<strong>_


	5. Chapter 5

**Now I'm not going to lie, I changed a lot about this chapter. I wanted to kind of start creating the relationship between Adele and Damon in this chapter, so don't be afraid to tell me what you think. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

**Review please.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5: 162 Candles<strong>

There's a thick silence in the room as Elizabeth Forbes stares at the young blue eyed blonde across from her, she's not exactly sure where to start, the mother part of her wants to ask questions that has no relation to the real reason she called her in but there was the sheriff part that reminds her that she _did_ call her in here for a reason. When Caroline mentioned to her that she had returned, she wasn't all to surprised, she had always been one for keeping her word and she did tell everyone she would be back after summer but Adele Gilbert during the years of watching her grow up had become somewhat like a daughter to her and she wanted to know exactly where she had gone and what she had done though she was sure Carol Lockwood already beat her to it.

"I'm sure you know why I called you in today?" Adele nods slowly a bright smile forming on her slightly pouty lips. "I'm guessing it has something to do with Vickie Donavon's disappearance, if not I can assure you that It wasn't me…you should try Tyler, I'm sure he had something to do with it." Elizabeth gives her daughter's best friend a smile. "It is about Vickie." Adele nods again crossing one leg over the other and folding her hands in her lap. "It's tragic really…I feel so bad for Matt you know, this must be so hard on him." Elizabeth sighs. "Did Vickie say anything to you before she left?"

Stopping as if to think Adele shakes her head. "I was never really close with Vickie, not even close to being friends with her. She was a nice girl and all but on a personal level I never exactly approved of her dating Jeremy, she was just not right for him." Elizabeth nods. "Do you know anyone who could give me any answers?" Adele frowns. "Sadly no, Elena and Stefan know just as much as I do, and if you couldn't get anything for Jeremy or Matt, you might just be out of luck. Jeremy was dating her and she had problems so naturally Elena and I tried to help to protect Jeremy from any harm he might be in and we asked Stefan if he could help as well but I guess it just wasn't enough for her."

"Was there any signs of aggression or violence?" She shakes her head. "No." Elizabeth stares at her for a moment with narrowed eyes and Adele gives her a smile. "Do you really believe that Vickie left town?" Adele blinks a few times and nods. "Yes."

~x~

Walking out of the court house Adele slips her sunglasses into place looking around at her surroundings. Spotting Stefan a few feet away she smirks at him and he chuckles lightly as she reaches him. "So all is good, our stories totally worked, plus my acting is amazing just pointing that out." Stefan smirks shoving his hands into his pockets. "Well which story did you go with? The trouble teen that needed some guidance story?" Adele shrugs, recalling there conversion from last night. "More or less."

"Good, cause so did I. I tried to call you this morning to ask you so we didn't mess this up but you wouldn't answer…" Adele scoffs. "Sorry, I was running and I didn't hear my phone go off, I tried calling you back but I'm guessing you were already in there." Stefan nods. "You'd guess right." Adele nods. "Well we totally won this round so I say we celebrate!" Stefan laughs as Elena spots the two of them. Muttering something to Jenna she makes her way over to them and Adele glances up at her sighing. "Jeremy had no memories at all; all he knew was what Damon made him know." Adele nods her moment of feeling content turning into a ping of anger. "Yeah, that was kind of the point and I have a feeling I know exactly where this conversion is leading so I'll be over there..."

Stefan can't help but smirk as he watches the young girl walk away. Turning to Stefan Elena sighs. "I'm concerned about her. She's not the same person she used to be…at least not really. She's mean…not that she wasn't mean before but she's meaner. She's way more protective then she used to be as well and there's just something off about her, something more dangerous than before…"

Stefan is silent, as he steals a glance at Adele talking on the phone. He wasn't about to tell Elena that even though he hasn't known Adele to long, he could tell there was something wrong. Something had happened over summer and Damon had filled him in on the fact she had no memoires of her time in Florida. Stefan had finally had time to sit down and talk to the older twin yesterday, he had finally gotten the chance to find out what she was all about and to say they didn't have a connection (and not like the connection he has with Elena) would be a lie.

Turning back Adele watches as Elena storms away before going back over. "What did you do this time?" Glancing back at Elena Stefan sighs. "She says people die around me and she can't deal with that." Adele tilts her head down, letting her glasses fall down her nose showing him a glimpse of her shining eyes before leaning back up. "You have to understand something Stefan, Elena is a drama queen; she likes to take things way out of proportion, something we'll come around and she'll see the error of her ways. Plus its Damon people die around, she seriously can't actually confuse that."

"So how are you feeling?" Adele glances over her shoulder for a moment before smiling up at him. "I'm feeling fine." He studies her face, wishing she would take the sunglasses off because the only way you could tell if she was lying was by her eyes, she was like Damon, the only true way to tell what they were feeling was by the emotion that passes though there eyes even if it's just seconds worth of emotion it's always there. "Are you sure? I know that what you did had to have been hard…"

"You're a good guy Stefan and I appreciate that you're worried but I'm telling you that I'm fine…" He nods slowly. "I just have to get on with my life…" Trailing off, she frowns looking just over Stefan's shoulder and pulling off her sunglasses. "What is it?" Stefan turns his head but see's nothing out of the ordinary. Adele's uncovered eyes finally return to him and she smiles. "Nothing, I just thought I saw someone…who looked familiar." She shakes her head as she laughs at how oddly crazy she sounds before lightly running a hand through her straight blonde locks.

"On to a different note…" Adele places her sunglass back in place. "I've come up with an idea." Adele gives the older boy a sly smirk. "Well lucky for you, I like Ideas." He smiles before continuing. "Here's the thing, it's kind of my birthday tomorrow…" He pauses to let her have her chance to butt in as he knew she would. "Oh my god…no way! How old are you going to be? No wait let me guess…17?" Her sarcastic comment makes him chuckle as shoves her hands into the back pockets of her shorts. "162."

There's a moment of silence as she stares at him, and though he can't see her eyes he can tell she's blinking at a rapid pace. "Wow…You're old, like really old." Sighing he runs a hand though his hair. "I have a feeling telling you that was a bad idea." Her smirk tells him his guess was right. "Anyways an old friend of mine as stopped into town and is planning something, you should come along, keep me out of trouble."

"I'll have to check with Caroline first, she's up to something but I'm not sure what. I think she's trying to set up another shopping spree, also Tyler wants me to stop by for something, If it's nothing to important with Caroline or Ty then I'll be sure to pick you." Stefan sends her a small smirk. "I feel special." She nods. "You should. I'll call you tonight; let you know what's going on."

"Okay, I'll talk to you later." Giving him a small wave she begins her way towards her mustang. She slows down as she comes closer, taking a deep breath. She stares; she couldn't remember where she had seen him before. He was beautiful, an object of almost pure perfection. His golden hair swayed lightly to the side with the cool breeze, making his brown doe eyes visible to her. He stood up straight, making it clear he was at least a good 6 feet tall, his left foot tapping slowly as if he were listening to music, and he's standing next to her mustang watching as she slowly comes closer.

As she does near the car, she notices that his form seems to glow and he's just a tad bit transparent which causes her to freeze mid step. How could she not have noticed that earlier when she saw him while talking to Stefan, or as she was walking up? From further away he did look like a real person. She jumps tarring her eyes away from the see through man to look over at the women who dropped her cell phone making her once sleeping new born scream. Looking back over the transparent man is gone and she takes a deep breath, closing her eyes. She must be seeing things.

~x~

Cursing she swings the door to the car back open, leaving it open as she pops the hood, pulling it up all the while ignoring the figure walking closer to where she stood, she sighs as she peers down into the engine. "Trouble in paradise?" Adele eyes stay connected to the engine. "Go away Damon." Placing a hand on the side of the car, he leans forward to glance at the engine. She looks over at his hand before finally looking up at him. "Car not starting?"

"What gave it away, the fact that I have the hood open or that I didn't drive away the minute I saw you coming?" Damon smirks down at her and she rolls her eyes. "I can give you a ride if you want." She sighs slamming the hood shut. "I don't even want to be with in a 100 miles of you, what makes you think I want to be in a car with you?" Pulling out her phone she dials a number she knows all too well as Damon watches her.

"Hello?" She turns away from Damon, placing a hand on her hip. "Hey Ty. Do you still have my old Ford?" Tyler is silent for a moment. "You're old F150?" Adele nods. "That would be the one." Tyler sighs. "Yeah, I was driving it like not even a day ago."

"So it still runs? Good, I need you to bring it down to city hall…I need a tow back to the house." Tyler laughs. "What happened?" Adele scowls into the phone. "Busted fan belt, it's an easy fix I just need to get me and the car back to my house to fix it."

After getting done talking to Tyler she turns frowning. "Why are you still here?" Damon shrugs a shoulder. "Thought I'd keep you company while you wait." Glaring she hops up onto the hood of the car. "I don't want your company." Sighing he hops up next to her. "I said I was sorry." She scoffs. "Saying sorry doesn't fix anything Damon, Vickie is still died, you're still a horrible person, vampire or not." He nods. "So I've been told." She sighs leaning down to place her head in her hands. "This sucks. I don't have 50 bucks for a damn Fan Belt. I just put new tires on this damn thing and got a new paint job, which cost me way too much."

"I'll pay for it." Turning her head in her hands she looks up at him. "I can't let you do that." He smirks. "Sure you can." She shakes her head. "No I can't, it's a pride thing Damon." He laughs lightly, placing a hand on her back. "Just let me pay for it, think of it as a peace offering." Staring up at him, she nods slowly. "Okay." Turning her head back, she keeps her head in her hands as they wait for Tyler and she's very aware of his hand which is rubbing slow circles around the center of her back and it's more comforting then she would ever lead on.

~x~

Damon Salvatore had never been one for watching a girl when his intentions weren't including anything pure or even remotely nice but yet as he sat on a tool box watching the young blonde fix the busted fan belt, he found himself interested in every little move that she made. "So who taught you to fix cars?" Glancing up at the dark haired man a small smile appears on her face.

"My dad, he had bought me this car for my 16th birthday, told me that the engine was totally shot, it needed a completely new engine and that we were going to build it ourselves, so while we worked on getting it fixed he gave me his old F150 to drive. I was never a normal child according to my parents. While Elena spent her days playing house with mom I was outside tarring apart things and putting them back together while dad worked on _his_ car." She shrugs lightly and Damon seems to hang on to every word she says.

"I tried to get a job down at the mechanic shop but they won't hire me because I'm a girl at least that's what Bruce said, the guys down there are asses." She frowns when he stays silent because she was sure no matter the situation Damon could never just say nothing. She stands up straight grabbing the rag next to her to wipe her hands before turning to Damon. "Something wrong?" He shakes his head snapping out of whatever thoughts that had distracted him. "You're kidding right?" She shakes her head. "Nope." She turns closing the hood to the car.

Standing up he reaches out taking the set of keys from her. "Well I say we take a ride up there…and change their mind." Adele rolls her eyes. "You're not going to compel them to give me the job." Damon shakes his head. "Who said anything about compelling? Now Kitten you can get in the car or I'll just go alone…" Adele watches as Damon gets into the car before she finally moves over to the passenger side. As Damon pulls the car from the drive way Adele turns to him. "I just remembered something…" Damon glances at her. "No one drives my car!" She shirks causing Damon to laugh.

It's 10 past 8 when they pull up to the shop, Damon having stopped by the grill to get a drink which had annoyed Adele to no end, which she figures was the reason he did it. The shop is closed for the outside world but sometimes there were those few workers who stayed after hours to work on their own cars. Damon after swerving into one of the empty parking spaces rushes from the car to catch the last leaving worker and Adele matches his fast pace surprisingly easy in heels but then again she never had any problems moving in heels.

"The shops closed, you can come back tomorrow when we open." Damon smirks at the boy; he looked to be no older than 17 maybe even 16. The boy glances up at Damon and his features change (like all those under the impression of compulsion) his look of distress turns to look that gives her the impression, if Damon told him to walk off a cliff he would and at this very moment Damon could do just that but he doesn't much to Adele's pleasure. "We need to speak to your boss, take us to your boss." The boy nods, and Adele glances around them nervously. "You need to be more careful Damon; you really shouldn't do that so openly." She whispers as she catches his arm, though he never slows his pace as he follows behind the boy.

"Relax, there's no one around besides the boss who is in his office." Looking up at him, she frowns and he makes a motion to his ear. She nods slowly turning back to watch the boy who would still remain nameless open the door to the garage.

"Corbin? There are people here who want to talk to you." He doesn't wait for a reply as he lets the two into the small back office. "We're closed, you can come back tomorrow." Damon glances at the man, who never bothered to look up from his desk. "We just need a moment of your time is all…surely you can spare us that." Finally tarring his grey eyes away from the stack of paper work he gives them both a once over.

"Make it quick. Close the door on your way out Jake." Adele watches as Jake leaves the room silently. "So I've come to the understanding you've refused to let his young lady work here…" Looking back over the man's grey eyes were now studying her and she frowns moving to stand behind Damon as if it would help escape the discomfort of his stares but then again Corbin always had a way of making anyone feel uncomfortable with a single look. "Are you here to waste my time? Because at the moment I'm kind of busy."

She sighs looking up at Damon. "Let's just go Damon, this was a stupid idea." He glances back at her to send her a small reassuring smirk. "I'm just here trying to figure out why? I mean obviously you're hiring…" He mentions over to the now hiring sign plastered in the window of the closed garage door. The guy glances over at her once again. "She's not qualified." Huffing Adele pushes Damon out of her way. "I'm more then qualified; I grew up working on cars which is more than you can say for the morons you've already hired."

"Look girly, why can't you just stick to what you girls do best and leave us to do…" Adele cuts him off, slamming her hands down on his desk. "Don't even get into that, okay. You're making yourself sound like a sexist pig right now, I can out work all the guys you've got working here and you know it Corbin, you've seen what I've done, my Mustang is still running and running hard. My dad would be so pissed if he was still alive to hear about this."

Corbin sighs shaking his head. "I'm sorry Adele; the guys would chew you up and spit you out if I let you work here. I'm only looking out for you." Adele groans. "I don't need you looking out for me. Corbin, I can take care of myself." The man turns his grey eyes up to Damon standing behind her and Adele glances back at him. "Don't look at him, he doesn't count."

"I'm sorry Adele…" Adele sighs standing up straight. Turning to Damon he raises an eyebrow. "Why don't you a…wait for me out by the car." Handing her back the keys to her mustang Adele gives him a stern look. "Damon, remember what I said…" He nods. "I remember just go." Adele nods slowly making her way towards the door. "Don't hurt him either Damon." Damon sends her a sly smirk and she shakes her head slipping from the office.

She kicks the small rock away as she hears the almost silent steps coming closer. "So?" Looking up she meets his icy eyes and he sighs. "You start on Monday, after school from 4 to 7. You work three days a week Monday and Wednesday from 4 to 7 and Fridays from 5 to 8." Her smile grows slowly as she looks up at him. "Seriously?" He nods and she laughs jumping up to wrap her arms around his neck. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

His arms slowly circle around her small waist pulling her closer and he can't help but inhales deeply closing his eyes as he catches the soft scent of vanilla mixed with something sweet that seems like it could only be something that was purely Adele and it was a scent that made his mouth water. He clinches his teeth together in an attempt to keep his face unchanged. It had been a long while since the last time he lost control of his hunger but standing here with her like this was testing every ounce of self-control he had mastered over the years.

~x~

It's the first time in a good couple weeks that she hasn't woken up in the middle of the night crying out for help and she sighs blissfully as she opens her eyes, the first thing meeting her blurry vision being the picture of a drunken group of people, her, Elena, Caroline, Tyler, and Michael being among them and she lets out a small laugh before taking a deep breath and she realizes she had forgotten to change before she fell asleep.

She could still smell her vanilla body spray mixed in with the smell of leather, bourbon and some type of cologne she doesn't recognize and she realizes the smell must have come from Damon and she couldn't help but notice that the scent alone could send her into a rage of hormones best left locked away and untouched. He was after all a psychotic vampire capable of killing everyone she holds near and dear to her heart without blinking plus what would Elena think if she started doing Stefan's evil older brother? The thought has her grinning as she sits up to strip off her shirt.

Outside the sky is clear and bright and she smiles up at it as she jogs back up the driveway. She slips into the house unnoticed and sighs as she looks over. The atmosphere in the room was sour enough to bring her bright mood down a level. "You didn't get a brush off email saying: Leaving town, see ya." Adele sighs loudly. "You guys are bringing down my mood." She whines as she passes them by, glancing quickly at Jeremy before grabbing a water bottle from the fridge.

"Can you guys keep it down?" Adele turns back to Jeremy unscrewing the top off the bottle. "Why what are you doing?" She voices as Jenna and Elena gaze over the top of the couch. "Homework." She almost chokes on the water walking over to look over his shoulder. "Since when do you do homework?" Elena asks and a slow but proud smile spreads upon the blondes pouty lips.

"I got to finish this, I'm way behind and I have a quiz tomorrow so…" He trails off as Adele skims the paper he's writing. "What do you think? Alien?" Jenna narrows her eyes slightly. "Some kind of Replica…" Adele rolls her eyes at the two of them as Jeremy glances up at her. "He can hear you." Adele smiles down at him. "Well Jer, I'm proud of you." He nods. "Thank you." She points down at the paper taking another sip of water. "By the way, that's wrong." Jeremy's shoulders slump as he looks back up at her. She shrugs. "Just saying."

Finally back alone in the comfort of her bedroom she lays back on the bed, scrolling through her contacts till she finds the one number she's looking for. "What happened to calling me last night?" Adele lets out a laugh turning over onto her stomach. "Sorry, I was so tired last night, your brother kept me out till like almost midnight and when I came home I crashed." Stefan is silent for a moment and Adele can just imagine his frown. "You were with Damon last night? Why?" Adele sighs. "He just helped me out a bit and then took me to get a drink is all. It was harmless."

"Nothing with Damon is harmless Adele…" Adele rolls her blue eyes. "It was as harmless as Damon could get…anyways…Happy 162nd Birthday Grandpa." And just like that all the worrying was gone as he breaks off into a laugh. "I seriously regret ever telling you my age." Adele shrugs smirking. "You set yourself up for it, you have only yourself to blame. What are we doing tonight?" Stefan sighs.

"Well I was hoping you would just come over and the three of us could hang out…" Adele scoffs. "That is boring. You have to do something Stefan. It's not everyday someone turns 162." There's laugh in the background. "That is what I said." Sitting up Adele frowns. "Who was that?"

"I told you yesterday, an old friend as stopped by for a visit." Adele nods standing up. "Right, forgot sorry. So here's the deal. I'm going to go stop by Tyler's house, then I am going to come over and we are going to figure out what we are doing tonight, though I'm sure by the time I get there I will already have a plan." Stefan nods glancing over at Lexi who's laughing silently. "I'll see you when you get here."

~x~

"I'm bailing on you again..." Caroline's bubbling laugh makes Adele snicker. "What is so funny?" Caroline sighs as her laughter dies down. "I was going to bail on you this time but you beat me to it." Adele nods. "Why were you bailing? I thought you wanted to go shopping?"

"I did but now I'm throwing a party, at the grill tonight." Adele frowns. "A party? What's the occasion?" Caroline shrugs lightly. "I have to help Damon get his necklace back." Adele rolls her eyes sighing. She should have guessed Damon would be behind this. "You're just going to throw a party because Damon tells you to?"

"Well it is my fault Bonnie has the necklace and it is his…Plus maybe if I do this he'll notice me again…" Adele is silent for a moment as she considers what Caroline is saying. "Caroline…Damon isn't right for you okay? I can assure you, he's just going to hurt you…again." Caroline groans. "Come on Adele, not you to. Damon isn't that bad…you just have to give him a chance." Adele stays silent. She knows Damon isn't that bad…depending on what mood you catch him in but Adele was sure Damon had nothing nice in store for Caroline.

"Can you invite Stefan for me?" Adele takes a deep breath forcing all thoughts of the blue eyed vampire out of her head. "Yeah, sure. I'll see you tonight." Hanging up the phone she places it into the cup holder before turning off on to the driveway leading up to the Salvatore boarding house.

Letting herself in she spots Stefan straight ahead as he sends her a welcoming smile. She makes her way over smiling up at him. "Hello Grandpa…" Glancing over she sends the unfamiliar blonde a smirk. "Grandpa's friends." The blonde laughs as Stefan glares playfully. After giving Stefan her best grumpy face Adele turns to the blonde. "Adele Gilbert." Lexi nods slowly smiling. "Lexi…" After a thought she frowns. "Gilbert? As in Elena Gilbert?" Adele nods. "That would be my sister, twin sister at that."

"Twin?" Glancing over at Stefan she smirks. "Wow…Stefan you out did yourself." Adele laughs lying back on the couch and crossing her legs over one another. "I should have been more pacific. She is my fraternal twin." Lexi shrugs lightly. "Usually fraternal twins don't look that different." Adele takes a moment to think about it. "Well the only real thing we have in common is our height, but that's pretty much where the resemblance stops."

"Really? I've never meet fraternal twins to be _that_ different." Adele sends her a sly smirk. "I've never given it much thought." Lexi gives a small laugh before turning back to Stefan. "Anyways…what are we doing tonight?" Before Adele has the time to inform them of the party "Caroline" is throwing tonight Damon Salvatore beats her to it.

He notices the Mustang as he's walking up and a slight smirk pushes its way across his lips, everything about this trip home to convince Stefan and Lexi to come to Caroline's party just found a way to become more interesting. He's come to find that any encounter with the little sexy blonde was indeed an interesting one but he was here for a reason and he couldn't let himself get distracted.

He hears just the ending of the conversion as he's walking in, all the while keeping his eyes away from the blonde sprawled across the plush couch with her long bare legs crossed and on the blonde sitting in the chair. "Funny you should ask…" And there is a burning sensation as the vixens eyes turn away from the string hanging off her cut off shorts to him. "Well I'm sure she wasn't asking you…" She mutters and he allows himself one glance and only one.

"There's a party at the grill… you'll love it. Banquettes, tacky waitress staff, all of Stefan's friends though I'm sure Adele already knew about it." His eyes fail him as they turn to connect with Adele's and she sends him a man killer smile. "Of course, you just didn't give me the chance to propose the option myself."

"I don't want a party." Tarring his eyes away from her he looks up at his younger brother. "Well it's not for you. It's a party, party. No one is going to know it's your birthday." Throwing her arms back Adele arches off the couch in an attempt to stretch her stiff muscles and she can feel the heated stare of Damon's blue eyes. "Caroline is throwing it." She adds as Damon seems to have forgotten how to speak. "And by the way Damon…" His name rolling effortlessly off her tongue snaps him back to realty as he catches her eyes once again. "Stay away from Caroline."

He gives her a smirk. "We're friends, it's cool." He turns his gaze back up to Stefan. "It's important for the town to see us out and about, like normal folk. We need to blend." Turning her head to look up at the younger vampire Adele gives him a reassuring smile. "That is actually a good idea; you see I was in town for what…a day? And I could already tell what you were and as for Elena it only took her a week more or less to figure it out?"

Muttering a thank you Damon gives Stefan a pointed look before he briefly glances down to the blood bags across the table and he makes a disgusted face. Making sure his gaze was locked with Adele's he points to the blood bags as he's turning away. "I prefer mine 98.6" The comment causes the blonde to roll her eyes earning her a wolfish grin in return as he fully turns away and exists the room and she thinks it's amazing how he can leave her just a little breathless with a single glance.

"Let's go…" Adele turns her eyes away from the spot Damon was previously standing to look at Stefan. "I'm with her. We should go." Glancing at each other they smirk before looking back up at him. "Please."

~x~

Spinning towards the bookshelf in Stefan's desk chair Adele picks out the first book she sees. "So you and Damon seem to be getting close." Adele sighs pushing the book back into the shelf after reading the cover. "If you're about to go all big brother lecture on me Stefan let me know so I can leave." Shaking his head he sighs. "I'm just warning you to be careful around him." Adele laughs. "You're acting like I'm planning on dating the guy. I hung out with him twice. If anything he's a close acquaintance. I barley know anything about the him besides the fact that at any point in time he can turn into psycho vampire who feeds off the pain and fear he inflicts into others." Glancing back over to Stefan she smiles.

"I'm almost ready." Adele pushes herself away from the book shelf and glances up at Lexi. "I can't believe you girls think we should go to this thing." Adele scoffs. "It's not like there's anything better to do, Mystic Falls is the capital of towns with nothing to do." Glancing at him through the mirror Lexi gives him a nod. "And it's not like I'm asking you to run outside mid-day without your ring, I mean seriously…" She turns giving him a bright smile. "It's a party."

"A party Damon wants us to go to. So my question is why? I think he's up to something." Adele nods spinning around in the chair. "You make a valid point Stefan but were still going." Lexi smirks. "Yeah, who cares? What could he possibly do in front all those people in a public place?" Adele glances up at her. "More than any of us probably realize…" She mutters as she rolls over to the two of them. "He knows how to keep a low profile. Believe me."

"Okay so he'll behave. Come on one day a year I get you, one day!" Lexi exclaims as she glances down at Adele but Adele pushes away from them spinning around. "Hey I'm on your side. I'm all for partying tonight."

"It's my birthday." Stefan defends making Adele laugh. "That doesn't matter." Lexi smiles up at him. "Plus, it's my day and that guy that jumped naked in the trevi fountain and got drunk on the torch of the statue of liberty, that guy can take a break from all his stupid worrying and go to a stupid party. So quit your whining and go get ready." Stefan looks to Adele for help and she smirks. "She wins."

~x~

The doorbell rings breaking Adele out of her thoughts that seemed to be trying to convince her to proceed upstairs to find Damon, which she refuses to do no matter how tempting the idea is. Lexi glances at her and she shrugs lightly. "It's open! Come on in!" Adele follows the vampire into the hall all thoughts of Damon Salvatore vanishing as her blue eyes meet those of her sisters brown ones.

Glancing over at Lexi, Adele notices her struggling for words and frowns before turning back to Elena. "Elena…" Elena takes a deep breath. "Adele…" Adele sighs, hearing the surprise in her sister's voice but there was a hint of betrayal laced in behind the lines somewhere. "Who are you?" Elena turns her feeling of betrayal to the women in the towel beside her sister. "Lexi, A friend of Stefan's." And Adele can't help but notice how breathless Lexi sounds.

"Is he here?" Lexi can't seem to form words as she stares at Elena. "He's uh…he's in the shower." Adele answers for her and just that simple answer from her brings a look to Elena's pretty face, a look like she had just been slapped. "Do you want to wait…?" Lexi finally speaks and Elena glances at her. "No."

"I'll tell him you stopped by." Elena shakes her head, turning on her heels. "That's okay." And with that she's gone, fleeing out the door. "I should go after her. It was nice meeting you; tell Stefan I'll see him at the party." Adele doesn't give her the chance to reply before she's out of sight as well.

"Elena wait…" Elena freezes. _So much for a clean get away. _She thinks as she turns around. "Why are you here?" And she almost wants to cover her mouth as the question slips out. "I was hanging out with a friend is all Elena." Elena nods slowly. "Hanging out with my ex-boyfriend and his…"

"His friend…seriously Elena, she's like his best friend. That's all she is." Elena is silent for a minute as she considers how possible that actually is. "Why don't I believe you?" Elena takes a small step back from her sister, as she watches her narrow her eyes and set her jaw. The color drains from Elena's cheeks as she thinks of how easy it seems to be for Adele to flip a switch inside her from content with the world around her to seething anger.

"Because you can't be happy with your life unless you're surrounded by a shit load of pointless drama that your own pathetic mind creates. Why don't you grow up for once and stop feeling sorry for yourself." Adele pushes past her shocked sister, blood rushing to her head and giving her a massive head ache along with the ice that seems to flow so easily through her veins, making her heart pound with a senseless rage that almost scares her, but she embraces it in an attempt to fully feel _something_, because lately all she's felt was nothing more than numb ache in the back of her mind that tell her she should be feeling something that is just beyond her reach. The only feelings that seem in reach at the moment are rage and something along the lines of desire. So she goes with the one easiest to grab onto.

~x~

Her arm brushes against the cool leather of his jacket and he watches as she leans up onto the bar to send the bar tender that sexy little half smirk and he can see the weak man melt as he turns to look at her. "Can I have a glass of bourbon please?" And she bites her bottom lip blinking her long lashes at him just too unsure he wouldn't refuse but what man in their right mind could refuse a woman in such a short and _tight_ black dress? It sure wouldn't be the poor helpless bar tender that was for sure.

As the bar tender turns away to get her, her drink she turns that smirk on him. "Waiting for someone? Maybe Caroline? I've been curious almost all day Damon…why is it that you wanted Caroline to throw a party for?" The bar tender places the drink in front of her and she turns to him quickly. "Thank you." She whispers in such a voice that turns his thoughts down a path that would surly drive him to insanity if the thoughts were to continue and everything about her at this moment would insure that they would.

She takes a sip of the liquid closing her eyes as it burned her throat just slightly on the way down, oh how she ravished in the feel of it. Opening her eyes she licks her bottom lip turning to Damon. As she was about to propose that he dance with her, Caroline makes herself known to them. "Amazing party right?" Adele pushes out her bottom lip slightly in a pout and he gives her a smirk before turning to Caroline. "I'm glad you thought of it."

"Well are you having a good time?" _I was._ His eyes travel back to Adele who's staring out onto the dance floor before looking back up at Caroline. "Do you have my crystal?" Caroline frowns. "No." Adele glances back at them. "Then I'm not having a good time." And suddenly he's gone making Adele frown. Now who was she supposed to dance with? She found her answer in the form of one of her classmates, smirking she makes her way over to him. "Hello Hunter…Come dance with me."

~x~

Three bourbons later and she's just now feeling the effects of the liquor as she giggles to a joke that wasn't even remotely funny. Tapping Hunter on the shoulder she tells him she'll be back as she notices Elena at the other end of the room speaking to Damon. Making her way over she hears just the end of whatever they were talking about. "But he's acting different. He's okay with everything and a little to okay. I mean he's studying and he's not doing drugs, he's not drinking. Are you sure you didn't do anything else?"

In the mix of alcohol and sweat Damon smells the distant scent of Vanilla and he cast a quick glance to the side as Adele stops to look between the two of them. "Elena…I took away his suffering." Adele nods slowly. "And we thank you for that." Elena startled by the sudden appearance of her sister watches as she grabs a hold of Damon's hand lifting it above her head. "Now come dance with me." And she just barely see's the wolfish grin spread across his lips as he follows behind her.

"Are you drunk?" Throwing her head back she lets out a laugh, tightening the hold she has on him both literally and figuratively. "Of course not. Tipsy maybe, but not drunk but well on my way." His hands tighten on her hips as she sways them in time with the music. "So Damon…" Her hands leave his shoulders to trail down his chest before moving back up. "Yes?" He mutters his eyes drifting close for a half a second. "What are you planning?" He smirks and she seems to be moving closer to him. "What makes you think I'm planning anything?"

She returns his smirk and her hips brush lightly against his. "Just a hunch Damon Salvatore." She whispers in that voice from earlier and he clinches his teeth. "Drink time." Grabbing his hand, she once again pulls him along with her towards the bar. "Four shots please."

Drowning one of the four shots Damon turns to the blonde. "Is there a reason you're planning on getting completely trashed tonight?" Adele studies him silently for a moment before taking one of the three shots left. "Drinking brings out emotions better left untouched." She answers taking another shot and Damon is puzzled for a moment. Smirking she pushes the last shot over to him. "Don't you want to get "trashed" with me Damon?" Glancing from the shot to her amazingly stunning eyes to her pouty lips, he has to remind himself that he has a plan well on its way and he needed to finish it. "If I do that how would I ever finish this plan you think I have?" She raises an eyebrow before gulping the shot down. "Fine, I'll go find someone else to party with."

~x~

Making her way over to Stefan and Elena she smiles at the both of them bumping hips with Stefan causing him to laugh. "What are you two up to?" Elena smiles slightly. "Playing some pool. Would you like to join us?" Adele glances at her. "You know I only play pool if something is on the line Sister." Elena laughs. "Of course, how could I forget all the nights you spent sucking the visiting college guys of their money?" Adele gives her a grin. "Those were fun times in deed."

Adele's grin fades as she notices Elizabeth Forbes along with a couple of her deputies pushing their way through the crowd over towards the bar where she had left Damon who was now talking with Lexi. Stefan and Elena noticing the change in her turn their attention to the crowd as well. "Oh no…" Adele mutters as she catches a glimpse of her best friends mothers determined face and at first she thinks she's going for Damon but is surprised to find out it was Lexi they were after and she just _knew_ he was planning something.

"Oh my god…" Stefan mutters as he watches them drag her almost lifeless form out the door and he doesn't even realize he's moving till he's stopped at the entrance of The Grill by two more of Sheriff Forbes deputies. "You can't go out this way…" Adele's grip on his upper arm turns his attention to her. "The back door." She mutters just loud enough for him to catch.

Rounding the corner of the building, the sound of gun shots stop as Damon plunges the wooden stake through the heart of the blonde vampire and while Stefan is able to reach out for Elena to pull her back, he's just out of reach to grab Adele who freezes at the sight, her whole form tensing.

It was bad memory after bad memory racing through her mind some of which she didn't even recognize as once they were gone she couldn't remember, but they had been there and they brought a force of that heart wincing pain, which causes her to take a step back and gasps for a breath of air before it's gone and she's left with nothing more than that all to familiar numbness and she straightens up glancing back at Stefan and Elena. Elena's eyes were fixed on the horrible scene before her but Stefan's gaze was watching her, studying her as if she was a science experiment and she flees, in a non-attention drawing kind of way of course as she turns with her head held high and she walks from the scene only glancing back once to connect eyes with Damon Salvatore.

~x~

It was well into the very earlier morning, maybe 2 or 2:30. The night sky above her dancing with the twinkle of each star and she was once again trying to count them all, while listening to the water below her. It was the first time since her parent's death that she had parked on the side of Wickery Bridge to lay on the hood of her mustang and count the stars in the sky. She found it strangely relaxing, thinking that maybe it would be nice of the darkened sky could come and take her from this place.

"Are you okay?" Glancing over she gives Stefan Salvatore a raised eyebrow before looking back up at the sky. "Where did you come from? I thought for sure you'd be with Elena." Stefan nods looking up as well. "I saw you walk off, you looked kind of shaken. Elena mentioned that I might be able to find you here."

"You're a good guy Stefan Salvatore. A really damn good guy." Stefan sighs shoving his hands into his pockets. "Why are you here?" Shrugging she looks back over to him. "This is just where I found myself. Did you get your revenge?" He nods. "I did."

"Good for you." He takes a moment to study her. "Adele…what are you feeling right now?" She takes a moment to answer him, calculating her answer from every angle. "Nothing…just a numbness. I feel like there is something…something that I just can't touch…" And once again she's silent but Stefan doesn't say anything because he can see the battle she's having with herself in her remarkable blue eyes. "Stefan…Is there something wrong with me?"

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><p><em><strong>Review please. I would really like at least 2 or 3 more reviews (or more, more would be nice.) before I upload the next chapter. (:<strong>_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 in the original had two episodes in it, but I decided that since this turned out to be longer than the original I'll just put one episode into this chapter, the next chapter will come as fast as I can write it. A lot of things are happening at the moment and writing might just be all I have left right now so bear with me if things get a little sloppy because of my state of mind. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC.**

**Review please. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6: History Repeating<strong>

She was jogging down towards the outskirts of town. It wasn't like jogging at 3:10 in the morning was normal for her or anything but she couldn't sleep. The nightmares kept her awake; so she figures what better way to past the time then to go for a nice _long_ jog.

It was the third time her IPhone has buzzed in the waistband of her shorts and she sighs, deciding that if Elena wasn't going to give up she might as well get her off her back. So she answers the phone, making sure her voice tells Elena how annoyed she was. "What do you want Elena?"

"What do I want? I opened the door to your room and you were gone. Where are you? It's 3:30 in the morning?" Glancing around her Adele frowns. "I'm jogging." Elena makes a strange coughing sound and Adele pulls the phone back glaring at it. "Jogging? At this time? You know how dangerous that is? Adele you need to come home." There was a demanding tone to her voice that makes Adele's eyes narrow. She had never been one for being told what to do, not even by her own parents.

"I have a question for _you_ Elena. Why are _you_ up at 3:30 in the morning? Oh that's right; you get up at least 3 times a night to check up on me. Why is that? To make sure I haven't run off again, or you think I'm going to completely lose it? What are you now Elena? My fucking guardian?" Elena is silent for a moment and Adele is more than ready to hang up the phone. "Well someone needs to be because you're acting so strange. You're so secretive all the sudden, you won't tell anyone where you went over the summer, your taking jogs at 3:30 in the morning, your happy one minute and pissed off the next, not to mention this thing you have going with Damon, Adele he is bad news…"

Adele cuts her off with a laugh. "That's what this is about isn't it? Damon freaking Salvatore is what has you so all up in my business? Well news flash Elena the last time I checked you were still my sister and as my sister I would appreciate it if you would lie off, I hang out with who I want to and where I went over the summer is none of your damn business and by the way I told _Damon_ where I went, you want to know so bad just go ask him." And she hangs up knowing full well that that might have been a little harsher than it should have but at this moment in time all she could think about was running off the horrible feeling of being watched because she was sure there was someone out there watching her at this very moment.

~x~

She knocks lightly on the door to the classroom and Alaric Saltzman and Jeremy look over as she leans against the door frame. "You called?" She smirks and Alaric waves her in. Jeremy gives her a slight smile and she smiles tightly back. "What is this about?" Stopping just next to Jeremy, she shoves her hands into the pockets of her jean jacket glancing between the two men.

"I just called Jeremy in to talk about his grade and I figured I might as well call a sister in to witness the conversion, make sure he knows what I'm saying here and after looking back over the school history of The Gilbert twins, you seemed to be the perfect choice." Adele flashes the new history teacher a proud smile. "Well I do take my school work very seriously. My I ask what my dear brother's grade is." Jeremy grimaces as Alaric informs her that he is failing and she sends him one of those side long glances that shows him just how disappointed she is.

"It's been a rough couple months but I've been trying to turn them around." Alaric nod as Adele leans against the desk next to Jeremy. "Yeah I saw that but the problem is we're half way through a semester and half a fail is still pretty bleak." Adele sensing this conversion is finally getting somewhere steps in. "What exactly can he do to change that?"

"I'm glad you asked. How do you feel about extra credit?" And Adele smiles at how fast Jeremy is to jump at the suggestion. "Write me a paper." Jeremy is silent for a moment taking a second to glance at his sister and she nods. "Okay…about what?"

"History, pick a topic, keep it local. No Wikipedia. These old towns have a lot of history, get your hands dirty, make it sing, and you'll be back on track and I'm putting you in charge to make sure this paper is as amazing as I think it can be…" Adele nods slowly and Jeremy smiles. "Deal?" Jeremy stands shaking hands with the history teacher before mentioning something about his ring and Adele tunes them out.

Jeremy finally turns to her and she begins to lead them out of the room. "Where do I get history on the town without Wikipedia?" Jeremy mutters to his older sister and Adele glances back at him. "I'm dropping you off at the library. You can live there till you finish this paper how about that?" And Alaric smirks as he watches the two leave.

~x~

"Is Bonnie always so…scared?" Glancing up Adele frowns before handing her keys off too Jeremy who gladly takes them before walking off. "Do not mess with my stereo!" She yells over to him making him hold up a hand as if to say "whatever" and she rolls her eyes before turning back to Damon. "Well it could just be because you're so determined to get that necklace back and she just for some reason will not give it to you." Rolling his icy eyes he sighs. "Let's not talk about that. Where are you headed?" Adele points as she glances back at her mustang and you could just make out Jeremy messing with the stereo. "I am going to go drop that asshole! I told him not to mess with my stereo! What is he doing?" She shirks, causing Damon to chuckle at the horrified expression that crosses her face.

Turning back to Damon she puts a smile on her face. "I'm dropping him off at the grill." Damon nods. "While there you should have a drink with me." She seems as though she is thinking about it when in reality he knows she's going to say yes.

"Nah, I have to work remember? and I'm tired…I didn't sleep last night." He stares at her for a moment. "Oh…okay." She laughs and he frowns. "I'm joking Damon but only one drink, I do seriously have to work and I seriously didn't sleep last night. I'll meet you there." She waves before half jogging over to the mustang slamming her hand against Jeremy's window which makes him jump back from the stereo in shock. "What the hell did I tell you? Don't mess with the stereo!"

She bites at her nail watching as Damon drowns the rest of the bourbon in his glass. "Okay Damon, there's a reason you wanted me to have a drink with you now we've had a drink so tell me what it is." Sighing Damon turns to her, just staring, taking the blonde in as he gathers his thoughts. "Have you ever been in love?" Adele nods. "Twice actually. Once over the course of 3 and a half years but broke it off and another time over the summer but I don't remember any of it." And there it was again, that strange feeling of being watched and she takes a glance behind her, her eyebrows raising as she spots the beautiful transparent man watching her from across the room. Turning back she blinks.

"Kitten…" She turns back to Damon. He takes in her wide eyes and looks over his shoulder. "What is it?" He asks as he turns back. "You don't see that guy over there…? He's like right next to that old lady and the toddler…" Looking back out over the crowd Damon shakes his head. "What guy?" Adele stares at him for a minute longer before turning back to the guy and he _is _there. She knew it; she knew she was going crazy, she knew she was seeing people who weren't really there. What was up with the damn transparent guy watching her? Who was he supposed to be? Why would she make up someone like him?

"Let's get back to the topic at hand…What's with the sudden interest in my love life?" Damon pushes all thoughts off the invisible guy Adele is seeing and back to the current situation he is in. "I need that crystal from Bonnie…" Sighing Adele shakes her head. "I am not the person to come to for this. Bonnie and I are not friends; we can barely stand to be in the same room as one another."

"Well Caroline couldn't get it done, and I can't get it…I'm not even going to attempt to ask Elena…" Adele shrugs. "Ask some girl on the streets, I'm sure they would be happy to walk up to Bonnie and take the necklace." Damon stares at her and she looks away from him to escape the pull of his clear blue eyes. "Stop staring at me." She mutters but he says nothing and she groans. "Fine, I'll see what I can do, I'm not promising anything though."

~x~

She makes it into the house just as Elena, Caroline and Bonnie are heading up stairs and they all freeze to look at her. Caroline reacts first, rushing forwards to give her a hug. "Oh my gosh, I haven't seen you since the party! I've tried calling you! Have you been avoiding me?" Adele nods, sending her a small smirk. "Absolutely." Caroline huffs at her sarcasm and Adele glances up at Elena and Bonnie standing in the middle of the stairs.

Elena slowly steps back down while Bonnie turns to make a dash for Elena's room. "Hey…" Adele nods in acknowledgement making her way towards the kitchen. "So…" Adele gazes over her shoulder at Elena. "We're about to do a séance…want to join us?" After grabbing a Dr. Pepper she moves to lean against the sink studying Elena with silted eyes running through what she had just asked. "A séance?" She mutters and Elena nods. "Sorry, talking to the dead just isn't my thing…" Elena frowns and Adele holds up a finger. "Let me reword that, talking to ghost just isn't my thing."

Elena nods sighing as she turns around. "What kind of necklace was that that Bonnie was wearing today?" Slowly turning back to her Elena studies her. "Why?" Adele shrugs lightly popping the can of soda open with her nail. "It was cute; I like all the vintage stuff you know that…"

"Where are you coming from?" Adele gives her sister a soft smile. "Well I was at The Grill but I had to go to work." Elena nods. "You were with Damon weren't you? I mean…at The Grill?" Adele takes a long sip out of the can, all the while keeping her eyes locked on Elena. "I might have had a drink with him yes."

"If you're trying to get the crystal for him Adele…" Adele pushes herself off the sink walking past Elena and towards the stairs. "What are you talking about Elena? I just wanted to know where she got the damn necklace, if it was that big of a deal I wouldn't have asked and FYI I had no idea he was even trying to get it. That is not what we talked about because believe it or not Damon and I can have a conversion that doesn't involve anyone else." Adele is stopped at the top of the stairs by Caroline.

"Are you talking about Bonnie's Crystal?" Sighing Adele nods. "Yes I was; I just wanted to know where she got it." Bonnie who is standing just behind Caroline steps forward. "It's one of a kind but you can have it. I know how you're into all that vintage stuff." Smirking at Bonnie she steps forward. "Seriously?" Bonnie nods holding it out and Adele reaches for it. "Don't give it to her!" Elena snaps and Bonnie yanks back her hand.

"She's lying." Running her tongue across her bottom lip, her smirk turns almost cruel. "Well I told him it wouldn't work, but he didn't believe me." Pushing past the two girls Adele slips quietly into her room slamming the door behind her as Bonnie and Caroline stare after her. "She was trying to get it for Damon?" Bonnie asks and she sounds sort of breathless as Elena nods. "She's working with Damon?" Caroline whispers.

"I don't think so. Adele doesn't work with anyone." Elena glances back at Adele's closed bedroom door. "It seems to me our little Adele might have a thing for Stefan's older brother and _my_ ex-boyfriend. Isn't there a rule about that somewhere?" Bonnie shrugs lightly at Caroline. "Or he has a thing for her."

~x~

After showering to get rid of the lingering smell of Motor Oil and Damon she lays back on her bed to stare up at the glow in the dark stars. After such a long night and an even longer day you would think sleep would come easily but it seems (if possible) even more difficult to hold on to as she seems to drift in and out of sleep for a good 45 minutes before a pounding on her bedroom door jolts her up right.

"Adele! We can't get the bathroom door open! Help!" She can hear the sounds of screaming in the background and wonders silently why the bathroom door being locked was turning into a moment of crisis for the girls but then again if Adele didn't have her own bathroom she might find it to be a bit of a crisis.

The bedroom door opens and Elena is met by the cold blue eyes of her sister as she looks up at her. Part of her thinks maybe she shouldn't have bothered her but there was that other part that said Adele was still her sister and that part that was her sister was determined to make sure everyone was alright. "Bonnie is locked in the bathroom!" Adele nods slowly opening the door to her bedroom the rest of the way and pushing past Elena.

"Bonnie!" Adele pounds her hand against the bathroom door in Elena's room. "Open the door Bonnie!" Adele can barely make out through her hysterical screams that she can't and curses. Pounding on the door wasn't going to get them anywhere, so she goes with plan B, and though this was going to be a sure way to screw up her shoulder she throws all of her body weight into the door in attempt to break it open.

Throwing her body against the door one last time, the door unlocks sending her tumbling onto the bathroom floor and she lands with a grunt as a sharp pain shots up her hip and Elena rushes forward to pull her back by her ankle to the entrance of the bathroom as they all stare at Bonnie who has her head buried in her hands.

"Bonnie…are you okay?" Adele stumbles her to feet glancing back at Elena and Caroline as Bonnie lefts her head from her hands. "I'm fine." Lifting her hand to grip her sore shoulder Adele frowns. "You're kidding right?"

"Unbelievable, you were totally faking it!" Elena sighs as she looks at Caroline. "Caroline come on." Caroline turns her back to them crossing her arms. "You scared the hell out of me!" Adele watches as Caroline retreats back into the room before turning back to Bonnie and Elena. "What the hell is going on in here? Was this some kind of Joke Elena because now I'm going to have bruises the size of freaking softballs all over me!" Elena chooses to ignore Adele as they both look back over to Bonnie. "Bonnie…" Adele mutters and Bonnie turns to her. "I'm fine, everything fine."

Adele presses her back against the wall as Bonnie pushes back her and the twins glance at each other before going after Bonnie to see her packing her stuff up and Adele blows out a breath of air, managing her shoulder because _damn_ that hurt.

"Are you okay?" It's the sixth time Elena has asked but the first time they finally got a different answer. "I must go." Caroline freezes turning to Elena. "If she's leaving I'm leaving." And Adele could care less who stayed and who left all she wants to know is what the hell the three of them did to make something so bizarre happen.

Adele can't hear the two of them yelling at each other as her focus was directed at Bonnie who had stopped to stare at her. "Thank you for having me." The comment is directed at Elena but her stare never leaves Adele. "I'll take it from here."

"Where are you going?" Adele calls and Bonnie turns back towards the stairs. "Where it all began." Elena rushes forward calling out her name as she descends the staircase rather quickly. "Emily!" Bonnie sharply turns back to them and Adele's eyes widen slightly. "What the fuck is going on?" She shirks and Bonnie looks between the sisters. "I won't let him have it. It must be destroyed." Pieces of an invisible puzzle start coming together in her head and she darts down the stairs after Bonnie. "Bonnie don't…" She's cut off by the door slamming and she grips the handle yanking at it to no avail. The door was jammed; something out of their hands was keeping it closed.

"What's happening?" Its Caroline who asks as Elena reaches her, trying to help her pull the door open. "The door…it won't…" Adele breaks off in a stream of curses and Elena and Caroline shirk as the door flings open. "What the hell?" Jeremy gives them _no_ time to come up with an answer as he strides past the three of them into the house.

"I am so out of here." And Elena and Adele watch Caroline storm from the house before Adele turns to Elena. "What the hell is going on? Was she talking about Damon's stone and is she a witch?" Elena only nods slightly pulling out her cell phone to dial an all too familiar number.

"It's Bonnie." Adele is still gaping at her sister by the time she gets Stefan on the phone and she was pretty sure nothing at this moment could be more mind blowing. "Emily is processing her. She said something." Snapping out of her dazed and astonished state she watches Elena pace back and forth. "She said, I won't let him have it, it must be destroyed and then she just left." It was clear to Adele now that Bonnie or Emily who ever that was meant the stone Damon wanted needed to be destroyed but why was still unclear and Adele figured it would be unclear till one of the Salvatore brothers filled her in which would most likely in time be Damon himself.

So lost in her thoughts Adele only catches the last bit of Elena telling Stefan where Bonnie was. "Falls Church, by the old cemetery, that's where she took Bonnie in her dreams." Adele takes a step towards her sister. "If you know where she is going, we need to go after her."

Upon hearing Adele though the phone Stefan speaks up quickly. "No! I'll go find her. You keep Adele in the house, don't let her get involved." And with that he hangs up leaving Elena to stare at the phone for a moment. "What did he say?"

"He said I need to keep you in the house." Adele raises an eyebrow. "Well screw that. We need to go." Elena nods grabbing her car keys. "I need to go, but you need to stay, he said for _you_ not to get involved." And Elena is out of the house before Adele has a chance to reply. Reaching for her keys Adele curses, Elena had taken them with her.

But of course Adele would keep spares hidden around to her most prize possession around in her room, so she takes her time in keeping up there and grabbing the one tapped to the back of her bed frame before leaving the house.

It doesn't take her much time to catch up and pass Elena and once she reaches the area she needed to be she leaves the car just as Elena pulls up behind her. "What happened to staying put?" Turning to glance at her sister she rolls her eyes. "What happened to I do what I want? No one tells me what to do Elena."

"So putting you're self in danger is a pride thing? Is that what you're saying?" Sighing Adele begins her way into the wood. "No Elena. I'm here because I want to be here and I know you would have asked me to come with you if Stefan wouldn't have told you to leave me at home, so I'm here to help you save Bonnie even if I don't like the little…" Adele cuts herself off not wanting to get into s fight about Bonnie. "It was a smart move to take my keys, smart but you didn't think it through enough."

Finally catching up to her Elena sends her a small smirk. "I had like 5 seconds to think of it, give me a break." Adele gives her a smile, a sincere smile that makes Elena laugh because her sister hasn't given her a true smile since the day her parents died and she was there when Elena awoke the hospital.

They can hear voices as they come closer and Elena breaks out in a run making Adele pause out of surprise but she recovers quickly taking off after her. It's one of the very few days she regrets wearing heels but she couldn't do anything about it now as they near the old church.

Elena calls out Bonnie's name as they reach them and Stefan catches her as the fire grows which has Adele slowing down as she reaches them but she continues towards it, pushing all fear to the back of her mind. It's only when the crystal she throws in the air explodes that Adele staggers backwards tripping over a twig, but she uses her elbows to crawl back from the sparks of the explosion, her heart pounding against her chest as the visions of flames blowing out the windows of familiar looking house sends her into a full blown panic attack.

Its Bonnie's screams that snap her back to reality and her breathe comes in short pants as she leans up on her hands to see exactly what had happened. "I can save her…" Stefan's voice sounds distant though he's not too far from her and both the twins look over to Damon but Adele's gaze moves just past him to the man standing a few feet away and she can feel Damon's gaze on her but she can't bring herself to look away from the blonde male.

The blonde turns away from her disappearing further into the woods behind him and she stumbles to her feet pushing Damon to the side as she follows behind him, determined to know who he was, why he kept following her and what he wanted or if he was even real and not just a figment of her imagination.

"Hey!" She calls as she starts catching up to him but just as she is to reach him, he gone and she freezes turning to left, then to the right before looking behind her and before she knows it she's turning in circles looking in each direction, seeing nothing but never ending trees and it frustrates her causing to take deep soothing breaths. "This is so funny! You follow me all day and night but when I try to actual confront you, you're not there! Who the hell are you?"

And she gets no answer not that she was expecting one because really…she was the only one who could see him, meaning he must not be real and she must have made him up for whatever reason, her mind had never been a very stable place. She had always, though out her whole life walked on a thin line between normal and completely bat shit crazy and even though the ones she has come to know and love had noticed it they never said anything to her, and she figures it's just to be polite but she wonders briefly while she's standing in the middle of the freaking woods talking to herself if maybe just maybe she had crossed that line to crazy.

~x~

He's still there when she returns, sitting on the steps to the old church and she takes a deep breath as she goes over to sit beside him and there silent for a moment just basking in the comfort of having someone there. "I love her…Have you ever loved someone so much, you were willing to kill everyone or be killed for them?" And Adele glances at him stunned for a mere 5 seconds. "Yes and I lost them." She nods running a hand though her knotted blonde hair. "I lost them…Whoever they were." She mutters and though he hears her he doesn't question her and she's glad.

"I'll leave now…I know that's all everyone has wanted." She looks down at her shaking hands. "Tell you the truth Damon, at this moment in time I don't care if you stay or leave. If you love her so much, then giving up shouldn't be an option at this point, I know if I was you and I had a change to be bring them back…" She pauses just for a moment to wonder who they were once again and why she couldn't remember. "I would. Every good plan should include a plan B."

And he finally looks over to her, noticing how the light from the moon seeping through the tree branches cast a glow to her tan skin with her hair knotted and her eyes darkened with something wild that he can't seem to place and though she was naturally beautiful, he can't say he had ever seen her look _so _beautiful then she did sitting there next to him and a small barley there smirk forms on his lips because she was right. A plan was never a good plan without a plan B.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Thank you to all those who support the story and all those who have reviewed. I'm thinking at least 2 or 3 more reviews before I post the next chapter. (But more is always welcomed.) :p<strong>_


	7. Chapter 7

**Here is chapter 7, there are two episodes in this chapter and I hope you enjoy. (: Review please.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7: Turning Point<strong>

She manages her still sore shoulder as she meets the eyes of Bonnie across the school yard who looks away immediately. Bonnie had been staring at her an awful lot ever since she was processed by Emily and she has half a thought to go over and ask what the hell her problem is but her phone buzzes in her back pocket snapping her gaze away from the girl. She tilts her head slightly to the side as she looks at the number, she would really need to put it in her contacts.

"What do you want?" She starts towards her mustang and of course it would be parked just a few cars down from Bonnie. "I'm going to ignore how rude you are." Adele rolls her eyes. "Good because I wasn't planning on being anything but rude. What do you want Damon?"

"I need you to get your father's compass from Sheriff Forbes." Pausing Adele frowns. "How am I supposed to do that? Wait…why am I even talking to you? I thought you were leaving?" Damon sighs a smirk pulling at the corners of his lips. "And I thought you said you don't care if I stay or leave?" Shrugging Adele continues walking. "I don't, just wondering."

"Then get the compass." Sighing she sends Bonnie a get lost look making her scatter in the other direction before she unlocks her car. "How?" Damon stops to think for a moment. "Well the compass belongs to Jeremy now, so you could just march up to her and demand she give it back…" Rolling her eyes she leans her elbows against the top of her car. "Next idea."

"What is wrong with that Idea?" She huffs into the phone. "I can't just barge into her office and demand she give something back that I didn't even know she had, I thought it was tucked away nice and tight in Jeremy's room somewhere." Damon chuckles lightly. "It was, but Logan found it. They used it to track down Stefan during the whole Vickie thing, now that he's dead Sheriff Forbes has it locked away in one of the drawers in her desk at her at home office."

Glancing around Adele spots Caroline not too far away from her and grins. "Fine, I'll call you when I have it." Hanging up she sends a quick text to Caroline and watches as she stops to pull the phone out of her purse. Adele watches as her best friends eyes scan the phone before looking up and spotting her. Adele smiles as the girl begins her way over. "Hey."

"I need a favor." Caroline laughs as she gazes at the other blonde from above the mustang. "Sure. What?" Adele pauses thinking over her choice of words carefully. "You're moms at work right?" Caroline nods. "Get in, I'll explain on the way to your house."

While going through the bottom drawer to her mom's desk Caroline glances up at Adele going through the top drawer. "So…what is going on between you and Damon?" Adele sighs closing the drawer before opening the one under it. "Nothing is going on between Damon and me; did Elena tell you there was?" Caroline shakes her head her blonde curls bouncing around her face. "It's kind of hard not to notice, every once in a while I'll see you with him at the grill or something."

"Are you asking because of that Girl code thing…because you know we agreed a long time ago that was bullshit remember? It wouldn't matter anyways because there is nothing going on." Standing up straight Adele holds up the compass in front of her grinning in success. "Found it. Thank you and I will call you later tonight." Caroline nods as she watches the girl race from the room dialing a number on her phone.

~x~

Twisting the gold in her hand she flips it open watching as it flicks to the side. "I'm here and you are not. Hurry it up Damon." Damon sighs and Adele rolls her eyes at the sound. "I'll be there in a minute." Glancing around her she frowns. "A minute is…" She takes a step back gazing up at the vampire. "Too long." She mutters as she ends the call. They both glance down as the compass starts to flicker in the direction of Damon.

"I think there is a vampire around." Adele sends him a smirk as she holds the compass out to him. He reaches for it and she pulls it back tilting her head to the side and he sighs. "I just need it to help me make sure this is where the vampire is."

"There's another vampire in town?" Damon nods and she raises an eyebrow at him. "And you're on the case…?" He nods again and she shakes her head. "I can't be the only one who see's something wrong in that right?" And he rolls his eyes holding out his hand. "Fine." She hands him the compass before crossing her arms. "But I'm not leaving you with it."

It takes Damon a moment to register the meaning behind her words and he shakes his head. "You can't go in there with me Kitten, you could get hurt." She sends him a smile. "Then I'll wait here." Damon takes a moment to just stare at her before shaking his head. "It's not a good idea." Adele shrugs. "It wouldn't be the first time I did something remotely stupid."

"Is there anything I could say to get you to change your mind?" Adele pretends to think about it before shaking her head. "Fine, but stay here and don't follow me, I don't need you dying today." Before she has a change to ask what that meant or why he even cared so much he's at the door to the warehouse breaking the doorknob and pulling the door open slowly. He glances back at her and she waves him off.

She glances around her taking in her surroundings before pulling out her phone and her headphones plugging them into the phone. She scrolls through the many songs in her playlist before settling for Piano Man by Billy Joel and turning it up to maximum volume.

She lets her mind wonder off as she listening to the soft song play taking a seat on the steps leading up to the warehouse. So deep in thought with the music blasting, she fails to hear the gunshots from inside the warehouse.

~x~

She wasn't sure how long it had been since she'd sat down but she was running out of patients as she texted Damon to hurry up and he responded with a _Can't talk, been shot, all under control, stay put. _This causes her to feel just slightly panicked but she stays put like he told her to, that is until she hears the sound of gunshots and ducks to the side when Logan Fell comes running out.

"Damon?" She calls into the warehouse as she steps through the door, turning the corner she lets out a small gasps rushing to Damon's side. "Oh my god, are you okay?" Damon's eyes slowly open to look up at her and he sighs as her blue eyes rank over his body. "I've just been shot 7 times but other than that I'm peachy, no reason to worry."

There silent for a moment before Damon speaks. "I need you to get them out." Adele frowns, her eye narrowing as her mind is slow to comprehend his meaning and when she finally does her eyes widen and she backs away. "No…no…no…" Damon groans as he fully turns his head to her. "Kitten…" She bites her bottom lip as his blue eyes meet hers. "I have no energy right now and with these things still stuck in me, I have no way of healing." She lets out a whine.

His shirt is soaked in blood and she can't seem to find the bullet wounds as she looks down at him. "Can I take off the shirt or open it or something." Holding back a crude remark, he nods in response and she reaches up unbuttoning his shirt slowly as to not cause him any more pain. He bites back a groan as her fingers graze his exposed skin as she pushes the shirt open where she can see the wounds clearly now.

She gets the first bullet out with little to no effort cringing as his warm blood stains her fingers and he lets out a scream of agony. The second bullet proves to be harder to get due to it being in deeper and she lets out a breath when she finally gets it, flinging it to the side. "I have one more…" She mutters as she goes for the last one, but it's the deepest one and his screaming wasn't helping her any. "Okay, I'm not going to be able to get it, if you keep screaming." She mentions as she pulls her fingers back. "Well it hurts!"

"Well you wanted me to do this, now I'm doing it so suck it up and stop screaming!" And she yanks the last bullet out, causing him to press his lips together and let out a muffled yelp. "Happy?" She nods down at him. "Very."

She sits back, wiping the blood on her fingers onto her jeans. "Are you okay? Do you need anything?" He gazes up at her a small smirk forming on his lips. "Are you offering?" She sighs rolling her eyes and pushing herself off the ground. "Okay, you're fine."

"Fine? Yes. Pissed? Most diffidently. I swear I'm going to rip that reporter limb from limb when I find him." Adele nods as she watches him slowly make it to his feet. "I advise you to take a shower first, all that blood is kind of unattractive, just saying." Damon sends her a look. "I'm not doing anything but killing that guy." And she rolls her eyes grabbing at one of the open sides of his shirt pulling him along with her as she walks from the warehouse. "First you're changing your shirt, seriously Damon the blood is nasty and you can't be going around town like that someone might think you killed someone."

~x~

She watches as he strips off the bloody shirt in a heat of rage, rambling on to his younger brother over the phone and part of her in wondering how one man could possibly look so perfect as she lies there on his bed flipping through a magazine.

"No, I'm not okay!" Damon pauses in his rant to glance back at the blonde lying on her stomach on his bed flipping carelessly though a magazine, and his tongue sneaks out to lick his bottom lip as his eyes travel up the curve of her body, lingering on the bare skin of her hip since her shirt didn't seem to want to stay put. "I was ambushed, I was shot, Kitt…Adele has proven she can be real bossy…" Adele smirks as she listens to him almost slip up and call her by the name he had been calling her lately which makes her wonder if besides this one time he had ever called her by her real name as she turns to look at him.

"I wasn't letting you run around town looking like you just murdered someone!" Damon smirks but ignores her as he yanks a shirt from his closet. "Now I'm vengeful. I just have to find him." Adele flips over onto her back, throwing the magazine to the side. "Adele is with you? I was wondering why I didn't see her here and there's no need. He's here at the school." Though Stefan wanted to express his concern about Adele being involved he left the subject alone, figuring there was much bigger problems at the moment.

"You're kidding." Damon's tone catches Adele's attention and she sits up to look at him. "Kidding about what?" Damon holds up a finger to her as she slides to the edge of the bed. "Why is he there?"

"He's working the crowd." And Damon turns to Adele his eyes lit up with the possibility of future excitement, he gives her a devilish smirk and she holds up her keys smirking back. "Well we'll be right there."

~x~

There's almost nothing more important to Adele Gilbert then her 1969 Ford Mustang, she always chose a decent speed to get her where she needed to be in a fraction of the time it would usually take while keeping her car as safe as possible but Damon had just gotten a text from Stefan telling him that Logan had Caroline and Caroline was one thing more important to her then her car so she throws caution to the wind, speeding well over 90 miles per hour in an attempt to save her in time.

Her tires blow up smoke as she skids to a halt just in front of the SUV in time to see Stefan throw the local news reporter from the car and as he's getting up Adele is out of the car and walking forward, raising her gun and firing four bullets, hitting him each time. "Good shot." Damon mutters as they watch him squirm in pain. "Thank you."

"Elizabeth is on the phone, Damon talk to her, Stefan help me with Caroline, get her in the car." Damon rushes over to driver side of the SUV and Stefan rushes to Caroline's side as Adele opens the passenger side door of her car, pushing forward the seat to let him lay her down in the back and she speeds past Damon waving back at him as he waves to her while taking a crowbar from the back of the SUV.

~x~

It didn't take long after they arrived at Caroline's for her to regain consciousness and Adele told Stefan that she had everything under control now and that he could go which after a bit of disagreement he reluctantly left. Adele takes a seat on the edge of the bed handing Caroline a bottle of water and a couple of Ibuprofens which she willing takes saying how her head was busting.

"Will you did hit it pretty good during the attack." Caroline looks up at her swallowing back tears. "I can't believe he attacked me." Adele sighs shaking her head lightly. "I can't believe it either, I'm just glad you're okay." Caroline nods a small smile forming on her lips as she looks up at her. "Thank you." Adele smiles. "You should get some rest. I'll call you tomorrow."

Adele closes the bedroom door softly behind her before she makes her way through the empty house towards the front door just as Elizabeth makes it in. A hundred different emotions run through the eyes of the sheriff one being that of surprise most likely of seeing her standing there and another one of worry for her daughter's will being. "Stefan called me and told me what happened, asked me if I could come and help him. I just gave her a couple of Advil's and told her to get some rest."

Elizabeth nods walking forward to confront Adele head on as Adele's features take on a look of confusion and sorrow. "I just can't believe Logan would attack her. I've known Logan almost my whole life and he never seemed like a bad guy, I just don't get it." Elizabeth nods giving her a sad smile. "Nobody does, but everything is going to be okay. There's no need to worry." Adele nods as she returns the sheriff's comforting hug. "I'm so glad my daughter has a friend like you." Adele nods her blue eyes gazing blankly at the door in front of her. "Not as glad as I am to have a friend like her."

**Bloodlines:**

The next morning was rough to say the least, Jenna had come storming into her room at the crack of dawn ranting about how Elena wasn't home and something might have happened to her and Adele assured her that she was just with Stefan at the boarding house. Jenna had threatened to go over there and get her and while Adele would have been more than happy to let her go in any other circumstances she couldn't risk Jenna finding out the truth about the Salvatore siblings.

So after a run, a long shower and some cereal Adele took off in the direction of the boarding house dialing Elena's cell number as she pulls out of the neighborhood. Elena doesn't answer much to Adele's annoyance because she figured if she could get ahold of her and tell her to call Jenna she could skip the Boarding house visit and stop by Caroline's to see how she was doing.

She's on the back road that would lead her up to the boarding house when she spots the mashed up car on the side of the road and she slows her speed to a stop as she pulls up to it, deciding it'd be best if she goes and investigates.

She circles around the beat up car looking for any sign of people who might be in need of help but she sees no one as she bends down to glance into the car. Making sure to watch out for any sharp shreds of glass she pokes her head into the broken window searching to see if there was anything to identify who the car belonged to and she spots a bag in the back.

Pulling it out she opens it up rummaging through until she finds a folder, a History folder to be exact and she opens it up gazing at the name on the top of the paper in astonishment. She blows out a breath of air, slinging the bag over her shoulder as she makes her way back to her car.

~x~

"Stefan, oh Stefan!" she calls as she enters the boarding house and she hears him as he calls down to her from his bedroom and she makes her way up there walking in to find him holding the necklace he had given to Elena. "I saw the most interesting thing on the way over here, my dear sisters smashed car. Where is she Stefan?" Her voice is sweet but her eyes are hard as she walks up to the older male.

"She's with Damon." And Adele raises an alarmed eyebrow. "Why is she with Damon?" Stefan shakes his head, taking a moment to gather his racing thoughts. "I don't know, all I know is she's with Damon and she doesn't have her necklace."

It takes Adele a moment to comprehend his words and come to a conclusion on things. "Why doesn't she have her necklace Stefan? What did you do?" There's a threating tone to her voice and Stefan holds up the white card to her, which she immediately walks forward to take, turning it over she looks down at the picture in complete and utter horror.

"What…What the hell is…Is this some kind of sick joke Stefan?" And he shakes his head, looking down at his desk. "This is…oh my god. This is sick! Katherine 1867, this is…sick! It's sick! Did Elena see this?" He nods but she cuts him off before he can speak. "Well no wonder she ran!" Throwing the photo back in his face she darts for the bedroom door, stalling suddenly so she wouldn't run into him as he blocks her only escape. "Move." She demands as he holds his arms out to block the door.

"Can you listen to me for a moment?" Adele opens her mouth to speak but closes it a second later, thinking about her answer just a little longer. "I'd rather not." But that doesn't stop Stefan from explaining himself any less. "Elena is not Katherine, I know that. She's nothing like her. What I felt for Katherine wasn't real but I love Elena." Adele nods. "And Stefan that is all good in theory but it doesn't change the fact that she still looks exactly like you're "dead" ex-girlfriend. That is some viral information Salvatore and it's enough to wig anybody out!" Stefan lets her leave this time watching as she runs down the hall towards the stairs. He figures when she's calmed down enough he can talk to her but for now he needed to focus on getting Elena home and away from Damon.

~x~

"Nobody knows where I am." Damon rolls his blue eyes as he glances at the teenager in the passenger seat. There was really nobody he could call that wouldn't demand he bring her back at that moment…or maybe there was. Pulling out his cell phone he dials a number that has been all too familiar to him lately. "Fine, let's let someone know where you are." He mutters as he listens to the phone ring and ring before he reaches the voicemail and he sighs ending the call. "Well I tried."

She ignores the buzzing of her cell phone as she gives Nelson one of the guys she now works with from the shop the information he needs before he toes Elena's beaten up car away. It isn't until he walks away to hook up the car that she checks her missed call sighing as she sees it's from Damon and she pushes the call back button.

He answers on the second ring and she begins her way back to her own car. "You called." Damon chuckles lightly at her carefree tone. "Elena just wanted to let somebody know where she was." Adele makes a noise, something between a snort and a laugh. "And where would that be exactly?"

"I don't know if I should tell you, how do I know you won't race down here or tell Stefan if I do?" Adele sighs as she opens her car door. "Well for starters I have school and then I have to work and I want nothing to do with Stefan or you for that matter so just tell me where my sister is, tell me if she's safe and let me be on my way."

"Whoa whoa…what did I do? I didn't do anything, you can't be mad at me for not doing anything, what did I do?" Adele can't help but giggle as he takes a deep breath after his small rant. "Neither you nor Stefan had the nerve to tell me nor Elena that Elena happens to look exactly like Katherine." Damon frowns. "Now Kitten…how did you figure that out?" And she can't help but notice the tone of his voice suggests that that might have been a piece of information he didn't want her to find out which causes her to let out a harsh laugh. "Stefan showed me the picture Damon so I'm guessing that is the reason you have been so keen on ruining Stefan life since he got here and why you kidnapped my sister."

"No no…you have it all wrong…" Adele rolls her eyes starting the engine to her car. "I don't want to hear it right now Damon. Let me talk to Elena." Damon sighs closing his eyes for a split second. "Why does it seem like you're always mad at me?"

"Aw Damon, do you not like me being mad at you?" He presses his lips together slightly. "No actually I don't." And it was true; it was a complete shock to find that it was actually true. "Let me talk to my sister Damon." And he hands the phone to the girl next to him who takes it giving him a strange look because she was still caught up on the fact Damon just called her sister _Kitten_. "Hey."

"Hey, how are you?" Elena sighs glancing back over to Damon for a split second. "I'm as fine as I can be with Damon." Adele nods pulling away from the side of the road and heading back towards town. "What happened?"

"I was on my way home from Stefan's and I hit someone." Adele eyes widen and she almost has to pull over again. "You hit someone?" Elena doesn't answer for a moment. "A man, but he got right back up and started over to me and then he just ran off. He was a vampire."

"You know today has just been full of unexpected and unwanted surprises, I am serious what the hell is going on? Plus don't we already have enough problems with the two we have already have." The comment makes Damon snatch the phone back from Elena before she has a chance to protest. "That is rude, I am sitting right here I can hear everything you're saying."

"I know why do you think I said it? It's not like it isn't true. It would seem that someone always dies or get seriously injured when around you." Damon huffs and Elena can't help but notice his small pout. "You promised we wouldn't talk about that." Adele smiles. "I just said that to shut you up."

"You know, you are really mean." Adele nods as she pulls into the school parking lot. "So I've been told. Look Damon I have to go. Where are you guys?" Damon glances at Elena. "Atlanta Georgia." Adele frowns as she parks the car, turning it off. "Okay…Ne comment to that. Please Damon promise me Elena is safe with you." Damon nods sighing. "I Promise." And she hangs up glancing to the passenger seat of the car sighing to the transparent man. "Will you stop following me?" He doesn't answer her. _Of course he doesn't, he's not real. You're just crazy. _

~x~

"They can't get out. Emily saw to that when she had you destroy the crystal." His words don't do much to comfort her but Bonnie nods anyways so he knows that she understands. "You're safe." But yet she couldn't believe that, not when nothing seemed real anymore.

And as if her mind knew of her urge to change the subject she thinks of Adele. "Stefan…" He raises an eyebrow and she bites at the inside of her cheek debating whether she should tell him or save it till the next time she sees Elena or just go to Adele directly but that didn't seem likely as Adele did have the tendency to scare the hell right out of her.

"What's wrong?" Will she might as well tell him now, he can scene there's something wrong. "It's about Adele. I know there's something wrong with her." Stefan nods sighing. "Yeah, I've been trying to figure it out." Bonnie is silent as she study's the vampire in front of her. "I know what's wrong with her." And Stefan frowns. "How?"

"Emily…when she processed me she could…see it I guess you could say and though I don't remember much of that time, I do remember that. It's like she wants me to know, she needs me to help. For some unreason she wants Adele around." Stefan is silent. She wants Adele _around_? What did that mean? "Is it bad?" Bonnie shrugs. "Depends…what's your outlook on suicide?"

~x~

She hears the door slam downstairs and figuring it's either Jeremy or Elena she gets up off the bed pushing her laptop to the side and opening her bedroom door. She pauses by the stairs as Jenna's voice drifts up from the first floor. "I don't set a lot of rules Elena, not with you and not with Adele. I trust you both to tell me the truth. Where were you? Why did you lie to me about it and why did Adele lie about it? I thought that we were closer than that?"

"Now is not the time you want to talk to me about lies." This causes Adele to raise an eyebrow in confusion. "Don't do that, don't turn this back on me, I didn't do anything."

"Okay, question. Are Adele and I adopted?" Adele frowns. Elena can't be serious. "I trust you to tell me the truth to Jenna. How could you not tell me…us? I thought we were closer than that?" Adele hears Elena's footsteps as she's coming up the stairs and starts to back up towards her room. "Elena, I didn't…They asked me not to."

"I don't want to hear it." Elena yells down her Jenna and Adele is able to close her bedroom door as Elena appears at the top of the stairs glancing at Adele's closed bedroom door. Her picture covered bedroom door. She had a mixture of pictures that covered her door. Pictures of friends and family alike, pictures of their mom and dad and Jeremy over the years he was growing up which makes Elena wonder how Adele would take the news of being adopted because Elena knows how much their parents meant to her. Adele was always so close to them and Jeremy.

Adele leans her back against her closed bedroom door, staring at her closed bedroom window. How bad was it supposed to hurt to find out you were adopted? Adele was sure it was supposed to her at least a little but at the moment she wouldn't know all she felt now was a numb anger just waiting to break free.

~x~

Stefan is waiting for him when he enters the house and he sighs. "What is it now brother?" Stefan shrugs lightly. "Depends, how close are you to Adele?" Damon freezes his whole form tensing because he had yet to be asked that question and he sure as hell wasn't expecting it to come from Stefan and to tell you the truth he didn't exactly have an answer for that question. When it came to Adele Gilbert the only thing he knew is that she's snarky, and almost as cold hearted as she was beautiful.

"Why?" Stefan stuffs his hands into the pockets of his jeans rocking back on his heels as he watches his older brother. "Because I found out what is wrong with her." This makes Damon frown and it wasn't exactly because of what he says but more on surge of panic that shot through his vines. "I wasn't aware there was anything wrong with her."

Stefan rolls his eyes. "Well not physically, I meant about the whole no feelings and what not." _Oh_ now he gets it. Stefan was referring to her mental health, something that had concerned him back that day when she saw the invisible person at the grill which makes him wonder how many invisible people she sees throughout the day. "Well please brother…do tell."

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><p><em><strong>Three reviews for the next chapter. (But more is always welcomed.) (:<strong>_


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 8: Unpleasantville<strong>

She had just ordered a Dr. Pepper as she sits in one of the back tables at the grill. It was late enough and she had just gotten off work, figuring it was better than going home and being focused to talk to people she had decided to come get something to eat so by the time she gets home maybe Elena and Jenna would be sleeping. She wasn't worried about Jeremy; he was huddled up in his room working on his report.

It was true she was avoiding people, more for their benefit then for hers. She had been real edgy lately and she seemed more so when in the presences of others so to save her from future apologizes she chose to stay away but it was Damon who didn't seem to get the message to leave her alone and she goes to stand as he sits across from her but he reaches out grabbing her hand. "Sit down." She blows out a breath of air sitting back down. "What do you want?"

He shrugs lightly. "To talk." And she huffs leaning back in her seat. "I don't want to talk." He shakes his head. "Now now Kitten there's no need to be rude." She licks her bottom lip as she looks at him resisting the urge to reach out and slap him but he held her hand firmly in his making it near impossible. "What do you want Damon?"

"Stefan has finally figured out the problem behind you're no feelings and you're seeing of things that aren't there." Adele tenses, her whole form going cold as she looks at Damon. "He's trying to figure out how to help you as we speak." But Adele wasn't sure she wanted to know. Sure it would be nice to figure out what was so bad about her summer that she can't remember but one the other hand whatever it was there must be a reason that she doesn't remember. "Damon…" His name comes out as a sigh and he raises an eyebrow. "That's all nice and what not, but I'm not sure I want to know. Whatever happened over the summer must have been horrible, the shit that's happened since I've been back has been a nightmare and did you know I was adopted?"

Damon shakes his head slowly. "No…" Adele nods. "Neither did I." She sighs as his thumb runs over the back of her hand. "But I'll deal I always do." There silent after that as the waitress brings Adele her drink and Damon orders himself Bourbon. As the waitress is walking away Adele turns back to Damon. "Don't tell Elena I know."

~x~

"Oh god…" She groans as she spots the Salvatore brothers pacing her living room and Elena sitting on the couch. "Do I even want to know?" Damon sends her a crooked smile. "Probably not, but you need to." She sighs placing her keys on the coffee table as she takes a seat next to Elena. "Okay…what is it?"

"Elena was attacked by the vampire she hit the other day." Adele frowns as she glances between the Salvatore brothers. "Oh yay, just what this town needs another psycho vampire." Damon stops his pacing for a moment to point an accusing finger at her. "That is mean." In return she simple sticks her tongue out at him and crosses her arms causing Damon to chuckle because she just looked so darn cute as she sits there pouting.

"Now it's time we get down to business…did he say what he wanted?" The question was directed at Elena but Adele felt it in her to answer anyways. "Yes, he came to attack Elena but first he felt it was his obligation to explain to her what exactly his reasoning behind the attack is." Damon sighs closing his eyes for moment. "That is enough out of you, if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all."

"I wasn't being mean, I was simply stating facts. I was for sure you'd be smart enough to understand that but I guess I have been thinking to highly of you Damon." Adele sends him a tight smile and he grinds his teeth together. "You have now lost all privileges to speak. You don't speak unless spoken to." She frowns up at him.

Elena glances up at Stefan in confusion and he shrugs a shoulder before turning back to Damon. "And you don't know who this is?" Damon turns his attention away from Adele to look at his brother. "No." Stefan simply stares at him and Damon rolls his blue eyes his irritation growing by the second. "Don't look at me like that, I told you we have company."

"Do you think there is more than one?" There's worry in Elena's voice and Adele turns to look at her, just now noticing the attire she was wearing. "We don't know." Damon finally gives up on his pacing and takes a seat on the arm rest of the couch next to Adele. "Damon…he was invited in." Damon's eyes turn but they don't make it over to his brother and he find his blue gaze locked with Adele's. A surge of feeling…unexplainable feeling runs through his vines and if he was still a part of the living it would have made his heart beat faster and his palms sweaty.

But Adele was part of the living so her heart rate did rise and it gives Damon a significant amount of joy to know he was having the same effect on her that she was having on him whatever that effect was because he certainly didn't know but one thing he did know was that if he wanted to keep the blonde safe along with the other residents of the house then there vampire threat would need to be eliminated sooner rather than later.

"Then we go get him tonight…you up for it?" And when Adele nods it would seem that the conversion didn't involve Elena or Stefan anymore. "We need a plan." Damon already one step ahead of her nods. "Stefan will take Elena to the dance. You and I will tag along and we'll see who shows up."

"It's a bad idea." Stefan finally interjects making the two look at him. "Till we get him this house isn't safe, for anyone who lives in it." He takes a glance at Adele so quick nobody catches it. "It's worth a shot." Elena takes a moment before she nods. "I'll do it." Stefan glances at her and just to reassure him Elena places a hand onto of his. "I'll be with the two of you. I'll be safe."

"I'm going to go change." Adele mutters as she stands from the couch and the Salvatore boys watch as she disappears up stairs. Stefan glances at Damon who shakes his head. Now was so not the time to be trying to get Adele to listen but of course Stefan wasn't going to take the hint as he stands up and excuses himself making his way up the stairs after her.

He pauses at her closed bedroom door his eyes scanning over the collection of pictures and he smiles at one in particular. The Gilbert twins couldn't have been older than 5 both dressed in princess costumes and while Elena smiled brightly at the camera Adele glared hatefully and it was almost shocking to see such a cute little girl able to put so much hate behind a look.

He knocks three times waiting for the come in and when it finally comes he steps into the room taking in his surroundings. Unlike Elena's bright room, Adele's walls are painted chalk board black, numerous things we're written along the black walls in Neon colors, signed names, quotes and song lyrics. Pictures hung around, not posters or printed out pictures of celebrities, they were pictures much like the ones on her door and drawn pictures. "Wow…" He mutters as his runs a finger over one of the drawn pictures. "Did you draw this?" She glances up as she slips on her necklace. "Yeah. I drew most of them. Some of them are Jer's."

"I didn't know you draw." She shrugs lightly. "Who do you think introduced Jeremy to the world of art? It's kind of a family thing, Tyler draws to but he would never attempt to liking it though he does and he's just trying to look cool. After my parents died I lost interest." She shrugs again turning away from Stefan's gaze. "What can I do you for Stefan?"

"Well…I'm positive Damon as already talked to you…" And she sighs her shoulders slumping forward. "Please Stefan, I'll tell you what I told Damon. I'm not really sure I want to know okay? So let's just leave it at that for now and it's a conversion we can come back to…maybe." There's a low knock on the door frame of her open door and they look over.

"Everything alright in here?" She nods. "Yes, everything is perfect because if it wasn't I wouldn't be any help to you tonight now would I? So let's get on with the night's events please. Stefan you should probably go to Elena, she's wondering where you wandered off to, I know she is." So Stefan leaves, leaving Damon to gaze around her room in wonder.

He stops in the center of the room and though he wants to, he doesn't comment on the drawings because he figure Stefan already did so he turns his attention to her, to watch as she slips into a pair of heels. Instead of her black tank top and shorts that she been previously wearing she now wore a pair of skin _tight_ black jeans, a white cut off t-shirt with a sliver cross on the front and a pair of black heels. Her hair which was once up in a bun at the top of her head was now flowing down over her shoulder in somewhat tangled waves. "Wow…it's amazing. You look like you just stepped out of the 50's."

Adele turns her head to look at him, a slight smile on her lips. "Ha-ha very funny. For your information I don't have a 50's get up. I've always hated the decade dances." Damon smirks as he watches her gather things to stuff in her pockets like her Phone for one.

~x~

They walk side by side as they enter the gym. Damon is on the right, Adele is next to him, next to her is Elena and they end the line with Stefan, and this causes some to stare but they ignore them as they pause to take a look around and it's Damon and Adele who walk forward first followed closely by Stefan and Elena and man...Adele did not want to be there as she takes in the people dressed in tacky homemade 50's get up and the music didn't do anything for her already pounding head ache.

Elena places a cup of punch in front of her and Adele scrunches her nose at it. "The school's punch always taste watered down." She mutters as Caroline and Bonnie make their way over to there table and Adele sends them both a nod of acknowledgement. "Having fun?" Elena asks the two and Caroline smiles sweetly obviously forced. "No, but _this…_" Caroline mentions down to her dress and Adele eyes widen at the bright yellow top covered in fake flowers. "Took at least two hours so I'm at least staying half of that." Caroline turns her gaze on Adele giving her the once over. "It's nice to see you dressed up." But she doesn't say anything; she only sends her a sly smirk.

"What's Damon doing here?" Adele doesn't miss the obvious hatred in Bonnie's voice and she turns to look over at Damon before smirking at Bonnie. "He came with me." Elena rolls her eyes knowing Adele was only trying to annoy. "He wanted to come, he'll behave."

"Wanted is a very strong word." Adele mutters as she takes a sip of the watered down punch. "So there is something going on between you and Damon." Adele frowns at the other blonde. "No there isn't anything going on with me and Damon." She almost growls and Caroline only raises an eyebrow at her. "If I want to date Stefan, I have to learn to tolerate Damon." Elena goes on as if Adele and Caroline had never spoken. "It's not like I can kill him."

"Now there's a thought." Bonnie mutters keeping her eyes on the man in the leather jacket. "I'll help." Caroline mutters and as they clink there cups together Adele rolls her eyes. "No one is killing Damon." They turn back to her and Adele is almost shocked by her own harshness towards the two. "When did you become so protective over Damon?"

"Watch the tone Caroline, and what goes on between me and Damon is no body's damn business so get over it. Nobody's killing Damon." Elena mutters something about going to find Stefan before taking off and Adele turns away from the other two's shocked gazes.

~x~

A wave of relief washes over her as Damon turns up behind Bonnie who turns to glare at him. "Bonnie…want to dance?" Bonnie gives him a once over before scoffing and Adele rolls her eyes because although the girl was acting all big and mighty by the way she tenses and the way her hands start to shake you can tell she's scared. "I'm out of here." Damon reaches out a hand to rest of the table, blocking her path. "Please…give me another chance?"

Bonnie stares at him for a moment before walking off in the other direction and Caroline pushes herself off the table turning to Damon. "Back off Damon." She snaps before following after the witch. He watches the two disappear into the crowd before turning to look at Adele and he raises an eyebrow. "No." she mutters turning her head away and he frowns.

"Where'd they go?" Adele shrugs watching the people around them dance. "I don't know." Stefan turns to Damon giving him a smirk. "What did you say?" Damon rolls his eyes. "I was perfectly polite." Adele nods finally turning back. "Shockingly enough he's telling the truth."

Looking over to Elena he gives her a small Damon like smirk. "Elena…would _you_ like to dance?" Elena smiles. "I would love to." Damon's smirk widens and he turns to Stefan as if he had won something. Elena turns to Stefan as well. "May I have this dance?" And Adele presses her lips together, holding in a laugh as Damon frowns. They watch the two walk off before Damon turns to Adele who finally lets out a laugh. "That is what you call an epic fail." His gaze turns to a glare. "Shut up." Adele laughs again and Damon shakes his head because he never realized how contagious her laugh could be.

Standing just off to the side Damon and Adele watch as the poorly dressed teenagers dance. Damon had asked her to dance about 2 times since they had been standing there and each time she refused which seemed to annoy him enough to make her smile. It isn't till Alaric Saltzman comes over that Damon turns his attention fully away from her and she scans the crowd ignoring the two completely.

"Enjoy the rest of the dance." Alaric gives Damon a pat on the back as Adele finally looks back over. "Adele." She gives him a nod as he walks off. "What was that about?" Damon shrugs as he watches the history teacher. "I have no idea." Shaking his head he smirks at the girl next to him. "Are you going to dance with me now?" Looking up at him she rolls her eyes holding out her hand and he smiles at his small victory taking her hand and pulling her to him. He wraps an arm securely around her waist before lifting her feet from the ground and spinning his way onto the dance for, making her laugh as she grips onto his shoulders tightly.

~x~

It's coming to the end of a slow song and Adele's arms are wrapped tightly around his neck while his arms are wrapped equally if not tighter around her lower waist. There wasn't much said between the two as they danced though nothing could be considered awkward. They were closer than most couples, and that might have been due to the other chaperons continuing to pull the others apart but they seemed to always pass by the two of them or it could be for the fact that they seemed to get closer every passing moment the slow song was playing.

The song changes and Adele tries to pull away but he doesn't let her as he lifts her up and spins her around causing her to laugh and some of the other students give them strange looks, and Adele sends them smiles in return making them turn away.

It isn't till Elena comes running over that the two are snapped from their own little world where only the two of them exist and Adele can't help but feel a little annoyed. "He's here." Adele's eyes widen as she stares at her sister and Damon's arms (which had never left her waist) tighten pulling her harder against him. "Where?" His eyes scan the crowd but he sees nothing unusual. "Stefan just chased him into the hall." Damon nods turning back to Adele. "Stay here." He mutters letting her go and she nods as she watches him race from the gym and out into the hall.

Adele's eyes return to Elena as her phone goes off and Elena looks somewhat confused has she checks the number but she answers it anyways. "No…" It's more of a breathy whisper then a demand and Adele steps forward. "What?" Elena shakes her head grabbing Adele's right wrist and tugging her towards the back exit to the gym. "What the hell?" Adele asks as they take off down the hall. "You know most people like to know why they are running…"

"The vampire…he was going to kill Jeremy if we didn't leave the gym." Adele nods slowly. "And by we you mean you…am I correct?" Elena nods as they reach the locked door that could've possibly led them to safety. "Of course, come on this way!" And it's Adele's turn to grab Elena's wrist as they turn to see the vampire stalking towards them and she pulls her in the direction of the Cafeteria.

"When we get to the cafeteria if the door is look which it will be, the vampire is going to the follow us, I'll distract him and you'll run." Elena mortified by the idea of sacrificing her sister shakes her head almost losing her footing as they run but Adele catches her. "No, I can't do that." Adele rolls her eyes. "You have to, believe me I'll be fine."

They bust through the doors of the gym heading to the back doors but like Adele thought they were locked and Elena curses as they turn and the vampire appears in front of them. Adele roughly pushes Elena towards the door and she makes it out of the double doors before he can get her and the vampire turns back to her.

She gives him a small smirk shrugging her shoulders. "Opps." He reaches out grabbing her by the hair at the back of her head. "Give me all you got hunny, I like it rough." She growls out in pain and the boy gives her a smirk tossing her across one of the tables sending her flying to the ground on the other side and as pain shots up the right side of her side she presses her lips together gathering all the pencils that fell from the table with her.

He pulls her up pushing her against the wall hard enough for her head to smack against it and for her to bite the inside of her cheek hard enough to cause a gash making her mouth fill with blood and she laughs as the vines under his eyes appear and he bares his fangs. "Wow…you're pretty sexy when you're angry." He gives a growl of frustration at her lack of fear and as he's coming down for the bite she shoves one of the pencils into his abdomen. "Pencils are wooden aren't they? God I'm so sorry."

She breaths out as he backs up from her, pain clearly shown in his features. Raising the next pencil she catches it in his hand as he tries to block the shot and she sticks the next one into his chest where his heart is located, but it's just not big enough to kill him though it does make him slip on the papers scattered across the floor giving her time to lunge for the mop breaking it over her knee.

He catches the broken mop piece as she tries to use it and he yanks it away throwing it across the room and he lunges towards her but never reaches her as Stefan pulls him back throwing him over the table. Adele looks between the three extra people in the room, Damon holding the broken mop piece in his hand. "Hey dickhead." The vampire who had just made it to his feet turns back to look at him. "Nobody wants to kill you…" _Yet_. Damon thinks as he glances at the bleeding Adele. "We just want to talk."

The vampire smirks before making a run towards her and Stefan. Damon chucks the broken mop over to Stefan who catches it before effortlessly shoving the broken wooden piece through the guy's abdomen. Elena ran forward to embrace her sister tightly. "Are you okay?" Adele nods as Elena pulls back to turn and looked back at Stefan.

"Now you want to talk?" The vampire looks up at the four of them. "Screw you." Adele walks forward to gripping the mop piece in her hand. "Wrong answer." She mutters twisting it around making him scream in agony. Damon can't help but smile as he watches her. "Why are you doing this?" Stefan speaks up and the vampire glares at her before turning to him. "Because it's fun. I only wanted her…" The vampire pauses to look at Elena before turning back to them. "But the blonde one let her get away."

"Well I more like pushed her." Damon sends a smirk to her. "What do you want with Elena?" Everyone turns there attention back to him as the guy turns to Elena. "She looks like Katherine." Everyone is silent for a moment before Damon starts to ask about the tomb and how they could open it by the grim war and how they needed to check the journal, Jonathon Gilbert's journal.

After asking who else was working with him, he told them they would have to kill him and Adele shrugs. "Well if that is what you wish." Stefan glances up at Damon and he nods. Stefan yanks the piece of mop out of the vampire's abdomen just to shove it through his heart.

"How are we going to find the others now?" The other three glance up at Elena. "He had to die." Elena is silent for a moment. "But…" Stefan sighs standing up straight. "Elena…he was invited in." There's a noise from outside and Stefan looks up at his older brother. "Go, I'll take care of this." Damon nods moving towards the door. "I'll go with you." Adele calls running to catch up.

Running out into the hall they both turn noticing Alaric Saltzman Adele stops as Damon rushes to him with his inhuman speed. She watches as he compels the history teacher to tell him everything he saw and why he was in mystic falls. He then went on to compel him to forget all about the conversion they were having and when Alaric nods Damon lets him go, rushing back over to Adele.

Damon makes sure the teacher is gone before turning to Adele. "Are you okay?" She nods smirking up at him. "Never better…" He raises an eyebrow and she rolls her blue eyes. "Fine, I've been better but you got the information you need, and he's dead can't possibly bother us anymore so a little pain in return to those victory's is nothing. I'll live." Damon nods and though he has more to say he pushes it aside because it just wasn't the time.

~x~

After getting Damon to agree to let him help get the tomb open Stefan leans back onto the door frame. "On to another subject…Adele…" Damon nods. "I know I'm working on getting her to listen to what we have to say…" Stefan frowns giving off a small sigh. "It's no use Damon; she's not going to listen if she doesn't want to listen. We're going to have to tell Elena."

"No…you just have to give me more time." Stefan stares at his older brother for a moment. "We don't have much time left, were going to have to…" Damon knowing exactly where this conversion was heading turns abruptly to face him. "No. We're not forcing her into it."

"We might have to with all the stuff happening around her at the moment and not knowing the extent of the pain she went through in Florida and her parent's death, we might not have much time to save her. You said she's already seeing people who aren't there. That's one step closer."

"Not people, a person. From what I got it was a guy." Stefan shakes his head. "It's doesn't matter…" Damon walking forward doesn't give Stefan much chance to get out of the way as he pushes by. "No." He demands on his way out and Stefan just watches him because it wasn't his choice. Stefan was going to tell Elena and it would be in the interest of Adele's safety that he did.

~x~

Adele's eyes shift close and she's more than happy to let the darkness embrace her caring her off to a place that would make her happy but she whimpers lightly as the images are anything but happy. There terrifying at the most and her dreaming self, wonders why she was able to feel in the one place she truly can't protect herself.

She tosses in bed as the images of crushed metal, body bags, hospitals, dark empty roads, wooden stakes, shot guns, and fire make tears fall from her eyes as she sits up in bed, her chest heaving and she take seem to catch her breath.

There's something in her blurry line of vision, something of an in creditable blue color and it's clamming, clamming her enough so she can finally breathe. "Kitten…" Her vision clears. "Damon…" She mutters a sudden feeling of dizziness coming over her and she leans forward resting her forehead against his chest. "It hurt so much." He nods somewhat shocked has he gazes down at her. He wraps his arms around her pulling her closer. "It's over…just breath." He mutters and it doesn't take long for her to fall back asleep.

~x~

Stefan hands Elena a cup of tea before taking a seat next to her on the couch and Elena can tell he has something on his mind, but before she can ask what he's thinking he speaks. "I need you to promise me not to say anything to anyone who doesn't already know about what I'm about to tell you. Adele doesn't know." Elena nods, sensing the importance behind what he is trying to say.

It takes him a few moments to think of exactly how he wants to break the news to her and while he's thinking Elena is getting more and more restless. "I remember you mentioned to me that Adele has been harsher then usually..." Elena nods. "Adele much like Damon feels everything times 2. Everything you felt when you're parents died Adele felt worse, everything you've been feeling lately Adele…would have felt worse; it's the kind of person she is. Some would say she feels too much. We don't know who and we don't know why but someone…some witch has put a…I guess you can think of it as a brick wall around her soul, it keeps in the feelings that Adele should be feeling the feelings that are healthy for her to feel and letting out those that make her dangerous not only to everyone around her but to herself as well."

Elena flabbergasted struggles with her words as she looks at Stefan. "What kinds of feelings…make her dangerous?" Stefan sighs. "Anger mostly, she doesn't think anything of the anger though. The one's around her are the ones that truly notice it. It's the feeling of going crazy that's makes her dangerous to herself. The wall blocks memories, it blocks out feelings of pain and sorrow that comes along with death, we thought she couldn't feel happy but after seeing her with Damon…we're kind of confused on that, we think her happiness towards Damon might be something deeper…" Elena glances down at her hands.

"She's having nightmares, she's unable to sleep, she's seeing people who aren't really there, and soon if she isn't already she'll start hearing voices." A tear escapes down Elena's pale cheek. "What do you mean she's a danger to herself?" This being the part of the conversion Stefan didn't want to get to makes him pause.

"The dreams, the people, the voices, the thoughts of everyone thinking she's crazy or just thinking that she's crazy will…" Elena turns her gaze back up to Stefan, her brown eyes glossy with tears. "Are you trying to tell me Adele is going to kill herself?" Stefan averts his gaze and Elena chokes back a sob. "We're doing everything we can Elena, Bonnie is looking for a way to reverse the spell. The kind of magic used to perform a spell like that is considered a dark magic and most witch don't practice dark magic. Adele isn't going to die Elena, not if we can help it."

* * *

><p><em><strong>So in the original version I didn't explain to you guys what was happening with Adele until later in the story but I decided to change it up a bit. I hope you liked this chapter. I'm thinking another 3 reviews for the next. (But like always more is always welcomed) (:<strong>_


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry I'm taking so long to update, I will try to work on getting the chapters up faster. You will see I changed just certain things about this chapter from the original and I like it a lot better and I hope you do to. Review please. (: **

**P.S: I know there is probably a lot of mistakes but it's late and I really wanna get this up so I'll go back and fix those soon enough. **

**Declaimer: I own nothing but my OC.**

**Chapter 9: Children of the Damned**

The sun is hot as it beams down at her as she lies on the top of her mustang. She was relaxed, every muscle in her body loosened as the sounds of Journey's Open Arms blast from her stereo in the car. She had pushed all of her thoughts to the back of her mind, deciding that she could sort them out later in the day when she was up in her room but for now she would stick with tanning.

Damon had decided that morning that though his brother seemed sincere about helping him find the grim war and getting Katherine out of the tomb he truly didn't trust him which in turn made Elena untrustworthy as well, but he did need someone…well he didn't need anyone but that doesn't stop him from pulling up to the Gilbert house and getting out of the car. If Adele wouldn't answer her phone he would just go and make her listen to him.

He hears the music coming from the car but it takes him a moment to notice her lying on the hood of the Mustang and his whole form freezes as he stares. She's only in a bikini, her blonde hair up in a bun at the top of her head and he swallows as his eyes travel over every inch of her.

When he finally is able to look back up at her face he almost jumps back as his blue eyes meet those of her blue eyes as they stare over at him. "I'm trying to tan, do you mind?" He shakes his head, snapping out of whatever trance the sight of her was able to put him in. "No actually. I need to talk to you." She nods turning her head back up to the sky and closing her eyes. "I would tell you to join me but I'm sure you don't tan and I'm not referring to your lack of trying though I'm 99.9 percent positive you don't."

Rolling his eyes he reaches into the car, turning the volume down on the stereo and she sighs. "You're being a buzz kill, seriously Damon." Standing up he puts himself directly in the suns path and she opens her eyes looking up at him. "Come to my house, watch a movie with me, and I'll make you dinner tonight." Raising an eyebrow Adele sits up on her elbows, she gives Damon a minute to think over his choice in words and after a little thought she doesn't have to mention that his choice in events for the day sounds strangely like a date. "Okay…come to my house, we'll watch a movie, and then come back here and I'll make _everyone_ dinner." She nods. "That's better."

~x~

"So where's Adele?" Elena glances up from the box in her lap to Stefan across the kitchen. "Outside tanning, it's something Adele does in her free time. She has to be tan there is no way for her to ever be pale; it would be her life crisis, well that and crashing her car." Stefan smiles lightly before frowning. "I don't hear anyone else in the house or outside the house."

Elena picks her phone up from the table dialing her sister's number before pressing the phone to her ear and holding it there by her shoulder as she continues to go through the box. "Hello?" Her sister sounds tired, as if she had just woken up or was about to fall asleep. "Where are you? Are you upstairs? I thought you were tanning." There's someone moving in the back ground. "I was, but now I'm not. I'm watching a movie."

"Where? Upstairs?" No it wasn't someone moving Elena was hearing it was the sound of sheets shuffling around on a bed. "No…at the boarding house." Elena pauses looking back up at Stefan as he sits forward. "With…?" Adele gives a small sigh from the other end. "Only two people live in the boarding house Elena and Stefan is with you. That only leaves one person."

"You're with Damon?" More sounds of sheets moving and Elena frowns. "Yes, we're watching a movie and then we're coming back over to cook dinner." Stefan mentions for Elena to drop it and Elena sighs. "Okay. I'll see you later then."

There's a moment of silence between the two before Elena speaks. "Do you think Damon really believes this? That were both trying to help him?" Stefan thinks on his answer for a second. "I don't think Damon knows what to believe. Trust isn't something that comes naturally to him." Elena picks up an old photo album and as she's flipping through it she shakes her head. "You know, I really think that Damon believes that everything he's done, every move that he's made, he's done for love. It's twisted but kind of sad."

"There are other ways to get what you want. You don't have to kill people. Damon has no regard for human life. He enjoys inflecting pain on others." Elena stops to look at him. "I don't know…I mean I agree with you on some level but he seems to have taken and I don't like it but there isn't much I can do he seems to have taken a liking to Adele…it kind of seems like he would rather have someone or even himself get hurt before hurting Adele. It's kind of weird to think about."

~x~

The room fills with her screams as she tries to wiggle her way from Damon's grip, his fingers working at her sides to make her squirm and giggle. Once free she hops over the bed, her bare feet sinking into the mattress and when she lands on the other side she turns to point a finger at him across the room. "Bad Damon! Bad. Damon." She scolds but lets out a yelp darting to the other side as he lunges for her. "No. No!" She demands continuing to point a finger at him. "You're being a very bad vampire!" She shirks not quiet making it out of his line of reach when he lunges again and he pins her to the mattress attacking her sides once more.

"Okay! Okay I'll listen! I promise!" He eases up not letting her get up or anything but making sure she knows she can if she very well wishes to do so and he watches a small smirk on his lips as her chest falls and rises rapidly as she glares up at him. "You are a very bad vampire, a very bad vampire." His smirk widens. "So I've been told Kitten."

"Well I'm listening." Damon takes a moment and not just because the sight of her underneath him, with her hair sprawled across his pillow and her cheeks flushed was distracting. "I need your help." Adele nods. "I figured but with what?"

"I need your help in finding the grim war and opening the tomb." Adele is silent as she studies the vampire above her. "I thought Stefan and Elena were helping you?" Damon lets out a sigh. "I don't trust Stefan there for I can't trust Elena."

"But you can trust me?" He shrugs a shoulder. "Strange isn't it?" Adele giggles a little. "How do you know I'm not already working against you with Stefan and Elena?" More silence from Damon and Adele raises an eyebrow at him. "Because…I'm awesome like that." And she laughs throwing her head back against the pillow causing him to laugh as well.

Sighing she gazes up at him noticing now just how close he really was, his warm breath brushed against her lips and she gulps gathering as much self-control as she can. "If I do help you and we are able to get Katherine out of the tomb…there is something I need you to do for me…" After a moment's thought he nods. "Of course."

~x~

She takes a sip of the wine in her glass, scrunching her nose up at the taste. "I'm so not a wine person." Damon looks up at her from the tomato he is cutting and smirks. "So I've noticed." She sends him a bright smile taking another sip of the red liquid. "So tell me Damon. Beside Katherine, who else have you dated?"

"Well you know the usual, women my father didn't approve of and my father didn't approve of anyone I dated which only made me want them more of course." She smiles into her glass as he glances up at her again. "What about you?" She shrugs.

"Any other girl could tell you they've dated their fair share of loser but I haven't. I've never regret dating the guys I have well maybe Greg Jackson in like 7th grade but that doesn't count." Damon pauses in his cutting. "Who have you dated?"

"I've only actually dated two people that you could consider a boyfriend. There was Michael, I dated him summer going into 8th grade to the end of sophomore year and then there was the mystery guy. The one I dated over summer but I don't remember much about him just that I love him." Damon doesn't comment because she seems to have traveled to some far away land and he doesn't like the way his gut twist in that unfamiliar way. Jealously wasn't something Damon has felt since 1864.

Grabbing the bottle of wine he walks up to her refilling her glass. "Damon Salvatore are you trying to get me drunk?" Smirking he raises an eyebrow. "Depends what kind of drunk are you?" She thinks about it for a moment. "I'm a get me drunk and I'll strip for you kind of girl." Placing the bottle in her hand he gives her a sly smile. "Then why don't you just take the whole bottle." And she laughs throwing her head back and making him chuckle.

Walking back over to the cutting bored he picks the knife back up. "Hello Elena…" Adele turns as she sets the bottle of wine down next to her and sends her twin a bright smile. "Hey..." Elena glances between the two as she enters the kitchen and Adele's smile is almost enough for Elena to forget about the fact her sister could be dead by tomorrow morning. "We're cooking dinner."

Elena nods slowly at her sister stopping next to the counter. "Is Stefan with you?" Elena glances at Damon. "He'll be here soon." Adele jumps from the counter causing Damon to look up at her. "I'm going to change." She announces leaving the kitchen in a hurry and making both Damon and Elena frown in confusion.

She changed into a pair of sleeping shorts, a white tank top and thrown her hair back up in a bun. Upon her return to the kitchen she hears Damon just as he asked Elena if he can trust Stefan. Adele is not the only one to notice Elena's hesitation as she answers. "Yes, you can trust him."

Adele leans against the door frame of the kitchen watching as Damon rushes towards Elena and Elena turns to look up at him, neither of them seem to notice her standing there. "Can I trust him?" Elena's tone takes on a sort of smugness that makes Adele raise an eyebrow. "I'm wearing vervain Damon; it's not going to work." Damon frowns. "I'm not compelling you. I just want you to answer me…honestly." Adele bites at her cheek as she listens to Damon's voice crack. She had never truly realized that Damon had a problem trusting people until now and it made her wonder why.

"Of course you can." But she's lying, Adele can tell by the way she tries to make herself seem taller, stronger but she seems to have convinced Damon that she was telling the truth which makes her sigh which in return makes Damon finally notice her standing there and she sends him a small smile as she finally steps fully into the kitchen.

She continues to help Damon set the table listening to him tell them about a time when he actually did trust Stefan and Adele pauses turning to him. "Trust breeds trust. You have to give it to get it. At least that's what my mom use to say." Damon turning to her narrows his eyes playfully. "Are you lecturing me?" She shrugs a shoulder. "Do you need to be lectured?"

The conversion suddenly becomes serious once again. "I just want her back. I'm sure you can understand that." And deep down she does, because she has a longing for someone, someone she can't remember. "Yeah…I do." She mutters and there's a moment of silence as the two stare at each other before Elena speaks up breaking whatever moment the two were having short. "And I understand that you would do anything for her yes." Damon turns away from Adele watching as Elena sets down the bowl she is holding on the table. "Then you understand what I will do if anyone gets in my way."

Elena suddenly fearful freezes in her spot. Adele sighs reaching out to take the rag from Damon's shoulder and whipping him with it. "Be nice." She mouths when he turns to her and he makes a face at her causing her to smile.

~x~

Adele pops a chip into her mouth as she watches Jenna and Elena look through a box from sitting on the counter next to them. She glances up as Jenna leans over to her, keeping her eyes glued to the back of Damon's head. "He is ridiculously hot." Casting her eyes over to look at the back of his head she nods. "Yes, but he's ass." She mutters jumping off the counter.

Walking out into the living room she plops down in the arm chair next to the couch grabbing a magazine off the table in front of her. She doesn't have time to open it before the doorbell rings and Elena announces its Stefan causing the three of them to race towards the front door at the same time.

Stefan is slightly surprised when the door opens and he sees the three of them staring at him. "Well?" Stefan's gaze runs over the twins before landing on Damon and he sighs. "Someone took it." Adele frowns. "Someone took it?" She mutters more to herself than anyone else but Stefan nods anyways.

"Who took it?" Damon demands as he paces to the other side of the porch. Stefan shrugs as he follows behind his older brother. "I don't know." Behind him Adele and Elena stick together as they catch up to the guys. Damon stops abruptly turning to them and making them all skid to a stop. "You know what? It's that teacher. There's something _really_ off about him." Adele frowns. "What? And to think he was actually a teacher I liked." She shakes her head before glancing up at Damon who is staring at her with a confused frown. "Never mind me." She mutters.

"No it wasn't. Someone got to it right before him." There all silent for a moment. "Who else knew it was there?" All four of them seemed to have the same thought at the same moment as each one of them turns their eyes to stare at Jeremy through the window. Adele turns racing towards the front door with Damon hot on her heels. Elena yelling at the both of them not to but they ignore her as Adele throws the front door open rushing over to Jeremy and sitting herself on the arm of the couch next to him. "Hey Jer."

Jeremy glances up at his older sister. "Hey." He mutters as Damon comes to stand next to her. "So I heard you found a cool Journal from back in the day?" Damon ask and Adele nods giving her brother a warm smile as he glances back up at them before giving them both a nod. "Who else did you show it to?" Adele asks and Jeremy who seemed to want nothing more than to concentrate on his game sends her a confused glance because since when did Adele became so interested in the Journal?

"Huh?" Damon shakes his head at the boy. "Don't ask questions just spill." Jeremy finally pauses the game so he can regard the two of them full on. "You're kidding me right?" and before Damon can make some offence comment Adele smiles at her brother. "Jeremy did you tell anyone other than Mr. Saltzman about the journal?" Her tone is soft and curious. "Why is everyone so obsessed with that thing?"

Sighing Adele sends her brother a warning look. "Who else did you tell?" This time her tone is hard telling him to answer instead of question. "Just that girl Anna." That girl Anna…? "I've never heard of that girl Anna. Who is that girl Anna?" Adele demands looking at everyone in the room, they chose to ignore her. "The hot weird one?"

"Yeah." Jeremy nods turning back to his game. "Wait…who is Anna?" Adele glares up at Stefan. "I already asked that and you all ignored me." Damon places a hand on her shoulder. "That is what I want to find out."

Elena's phone rings and the four of them barely spare her a glance as she leaves the room to answer it, too concerned about who that girl Anna is. "How do you know her?" Jeremy shrugs. "I just know her…she wants me to meet her at the grill tonight." Adele looks up at Damon smirking. "Perfect." She mutters and he smirks back catching on quickly.

Grabbing Jeremy by the sleeve of his jacket Adele yanks him up off the couch with a shocking amount of strength. "I'll drive." Damon mutters as she pushes Jeremy towards the door. "Grab your shoes little brother you have a date."

~x~

She shifts in her seat for the 5th time causing Damon to glance at her as he drowns his glass of bourbon. "Are you sure you don't want one? You seem tense." She glances to the side her eyes connecting with dull doe eyes before she looks back at Damon. "Is someone sitting next to you that I can't see?" She huffs. "Of course not, that would be crazy." She mutters averting her gaze and he sighs. "Can you at least let me explain it to you?" She clicks her tongue off the roof her mouth. "Damon…I know you want to help but this is my choice. I'm not ready to listen and I doubt I ever will be." He is about to respond but she abruptly changes the subject away from her.

"How are you planning on getting the Journal from this girl?" Damon is silent for a moment. "That is where you come in. You know that nifty little swiping trick you played on Stefan to get my ring?" She nods catching on and looking over at her brother by the pool table. "She's here…" Adele mutters turning back to the bar.

Damon turns in his seat to look over and he just stares for a moment before turning back and he doesn't say anything for a long moment. "Something wrong?" She asks turning to look at him and he sighs. "Starch that nifty little trick of yours idea." He mutters and she frowns.

~x~

"The bathroom? You want me to hide in the bathroom?" He nods and she shakes her head. "I'd rather hide under the bed." He frowns turning her in the direction of the bathroom and pushing her silently. "Come on Damon…" She groans and he just points leaving her to grumble curses under her breath and stomp into the bathroom slamming the door shut behind her and Damon rolls his eyes.

The bathroom is small and dirty. Something you could expect from a cheap motel and she sighs sitting herself on the edge of the bathroom running a hand through her hair frowning. She catches the slight movements from the corner of her eye and sighs.

"I don't get why you chose to follow me around. Aren't there other people you could stalk? People more interesting?" She gets no answer. "Why do I even bother talking to you? It isn't like you are ever going to answer me." Turning her head she studies the figure sitting next to her. His lean transparent form looked stiff as if he was nervous about something, the features of his face are twisted in a sort of way that gives her the impression he is actually worried. "Why do you look so familiar?" She mutters causing him to turn to her and his features change slowly into something of affection that almost shocks her. He tilts his head to the side studying her in a way that causes her to fidget which in return makes a small smile appear on his beautiful face.

It isn't for a few more moment that she finally hears something outside the bathroom. A thud against the wall outside the bathroom makes her jump standing up and she listens to the muffled voice making out only a few words of what they were saying before the door swings open and Damon mentions for her to walk out. "Stay close." He mutters as she walks by and she nods.

Adele takes a moment to take the petite girl in as she does the same to Adele. Adele finally smirks down at her. "You must be that girl Anna." Anna sends her a smirk back. "You must be that sister Adele." She shrugs a shoulder. "Guilty."

Damon wanting to waste no time jumps into his snooping and Adele watches as Anna does a bit of her own snooping before they find out that the grim war was given to Damon's father. Anna then insisted on his help but Damon walks over grabbing her hand and pulling her along behind him (making sure to keep her as close as possible) towards the door and just as there leaving he offers Anna a response. "Sorry, threes a crowd."

~x~

"Are you going to tell me why we are heading towards…the middle of nowhere?" Damon sends her a glance. "The grim war was given to my father there for it is buried with him." Adele nods slowly. "So that means we are…going to dig up your father's grave?" Damon sends her a crooked almost twisted smirk. "Exactly."

The car rolls to a stop just on the outside of a patch of never ending trees and Damon turns off the engine. Stepping out of the car she takes a look at her surrounding deciding that if any night was good for grave digging this would be it. She glances up at Damon just to notice him frowning. "What?" She asks as she makes her way over to him on the other side of the car. "Elena…" Adele's eyebrows go up in surprise. "And Stefan?"

"I can only guess." Adele sighs a gust of wind blowing past her making a shiver run down her spine and she bares her hands deep into the pockets of her jacket that she throw on while walking out the house. "That would mean…"

"They found the grim war, they were working against me the whole time." And she is able to see that behind the flair of anger, there is something deeper something along the lines of hurt because for a spilt second Damon thought he could actually trust Stefan like he used to. His eyes finally settle on her and she shakes her head slightly looking back up at the line of trees.

~x~

Adele pushes through the branches stopping just a little way away from the grave watching silently as Stefan and Elena are bending over something, something that looks strangely like a book. "Guys!" Her tone is one of panic and Elena snaps the flash light up and Adele grimaces as she shines the bright light into her eyes. "Adele…" Elena mutters but trails off as the light from the flash light sends a shadow over another figure coming up from behind her sister and Elena focuses the light on Damon. "Well what do you know…This is an interesting turn of events."

Stefan climbs from the grave gripping the grim war tightly in his hands. "I can't let you bring her back…I'm sorry." Adele sends a worried glance at her sister before gazing back at Damon behind her. "So am I, for thinking for even a second I could trust you." Stefan scoffs and Damon doesn't seem to notice Adele moving over towards Elena and Elena reaching out for her sister. "You're not capable of trust."

Adele freezes just a few steps away from her sister as Damon's gaze falls upon her and Stefan seems to catch on as his gaze follows his brothers. "She was never working with you Damon. Elena filled her in the morning after I told her, we asked her to try and keep you away long enough for us to retrieve the grim war and destroy it." Adele averts her eyes away from Damon.

"The fact that you're here, means that you read the journal and you were planning on doing this yourself." Damon shakes his head. "Of course I was going to do it myself." His glare returns to Adele but she still won't look at him. "Cause I know the only one I can count on is me…you made sure of that many years ago Stefan." His glare leaves Stefan once again to travel over the two sisters. "But you two…you two had me fooled." While Elena gives him a look full of nothing but guilt Adele still refuses to look at him. "So what are you going to do now?" He gaze falls and stays on Adele. "Because if you even think about burning that I'll rip her heart out." Elena gasps her brown eyes meet those of her sisters blue ones. "No."

"You won't kill her." And Stefan's right, he won't because he can't for some god forsaken reason he knows he wouldn't be able to so he rushes forward grabbing the girl and wrapping his arm around her neck making her gasps in surprise. "I'll do one better." After biting in his wrist he presses the bleeding wound to her lips forcing them apart and letting the crimson liquid flood down her throat and for a moment she is shocked because instead of the blood tasting of iron like it normally would, the liquid had a sweet edge to it but was still gross none the less.

"Give me the book Stefan or I'll snap her neck and Elena will have to deal with her sister being a monster for the rest of her life and you damn well know she'll never forgive you for that." Salty tears were running down Elena's pale cheeks. "Damon please don't!" Elena shirks her eyes never leaving her sisters still form.

"Hurry up Stefan, clocks ticking." Stefan glances between Damon and Elena. Adele's eyes were focused in on him and they held nothing but an emptiness to them. He couldn't possibly let Damon do it, not when he had just started getting back into something normal, Adele had become something like a sister to him. "Let her go first." He takes his wrist away and Adele chokes slightly. "The book." Stefan shakes his head. "I won't give you the book, until she is standing over here with us."

"The problem is I no longer trust that you'll give it back to me." Stefan nods. "You just did one thing that insures that I will." Damon doesn't say anything only looks from the book to the ground. "Okay…" Stefan slowly places the book on the ground and Damon bares his nose in the soft locks on Adele's blonde hair inhaling the sweet scent of her shampoo whatever it was it smells fantastic.

He lets her go slowly and for a moment everything seems to stand still as they watch her motionless form look between Stefan and Elena. Slowly though she moves forward. "Adele come here." Elena pleads but Adele doesn't answer as she reaches down slowly taking the book from the ground. She stands up straight swallowing thickly as she hugs the grim war to her chest and rushes back behind Damon so she can peer at the both of them from over his shoulder.

It takes Stefan a moment to register what had just happened. "That was an act!" He exclaims and Adele nods. "I'm sorry." She mutters and Damon scoffs. "Of course it was. There's a reason I trusted her in the first place."

_His eyes finally settle on her and she shakes her head lightly looking back up at the line of trees. "Did you know?" She nods and he curses. "Elena explained to me what they were planning on doing and that they wanted me to try and keep you busy while they destroyed it." _

"_So you agreed?" She turns her blue gaze up at him. "Yes, I knew you would come and ask me for help they knew it to that was why they asked me to work with them." Damon turns away from her, part of him couldn't believe that she would use his trust against him, he didn't want to believe it. _

"_You have to understand something Damon…" He glances back at her over his shoulder but turns to her fully when he sees her small smirk. "I only said yes as a diversion. To throw them off of my true intentions and you know my intentions, you agreed to my terms of helping Damon and I plan to make you stick to them. So follow my lead." And with that she takes off into the woods ahead of him and he smirks slightly before he knew there was a reason he couldn't believe she would use his trust against him._

"How could you?" Elena snaps at her sister and Adele shakes her head. "I am sorry. Believe me I am but I have my reason Elena just like you two have yours for trying to destroy the grim war. You just don't get it yet." Damon turns hold out his hand to her and she slowly takes it, her arm that is still holding the grim war tightening around it as if she thought Stefan or Elena would try and take it from her. Damon sending one last glance to Stefan and Elena lead Adele slowly away from the both of them.

"You know you could have backed out…I would have stick to our agreement." Looking up at him as they walked back to the car Adele sighs. "If I asked you just randomly one day to help me bring back the guy I love…would you?" It doesn't take a moment to answer her, there is no hesitation and that surprises not just her but him as well. "Yes." She nods a slow smile spreading on her lips. "Exactly."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10! Yay! Sorry I haven't updated in a while but I've been having a little trouble finding time to write. Anyways, I'll try to update faster next time I promise. I hope you all like this chapter it took a while to finish as you can imagine. **

**I wouldn't like at least 3 or more reviews before I upload the next chapter as well. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC. **

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><p><strong>Chapter 10: Fool Me Once<strong>

The events that transpired after they had left the grave sight of Giuseppe Salvatore were almost like a blur to Adele. She couldn't remember much just that she had stayed over at Damon's, he woke her up, told her to get dressed and was ushering her towards his Camaro. By the time she realized what was going on Damon was already explaining to her that they were on their way to meet up with Anna confusing Adele even more so than she already was but Damon wouldn't tell her why he all the sudden wanted to talk to the other vampire whom he turned down the day before.

"Come on Damon. Why are we here?" Adele takes in her surroundings as Damon leads her to the center of town also known as Town Square. "Don't' worry Kitten; I just need you to make sure she came alone." Adele blinks pausing in her steps to look up at him. "Okay…but did you feel it necessary to bring that?" Damon glances down at the grim war in his hand. "I couldn't take a chance with Stefan in the house. Who knows if he would try and destroy it while I'm gone? After you make sure she's alone and not trying to trick us I'll hand you the book and you go back to the car." She nods but there was no chance she was _actually_ going to wait in the car. He disappears from her side leaving her standing off to the side of town square.

Walking forward she spots Anna speaking with her brother before taking a seat on a bench. There was something that bothered her about the way Anna seemed to friendly with Jeremy. Something about that whole relationship that not only irked her but worried her as well, like she knew Anna was up to something more than just having a casual interest in her younger brother.

As Anna spots her Adele waves her fingers giving the girl a bright –fake– smile. After finally saying goodbye to Jeremy Anna makes her way over taking a seat next to her. "You know I'm not sure I like this thing you have going on with my brother. I mean don't get me wrong it's nothing against you but I've done a very good job of keeping the vampires he attracts at bay and you're not helping anything." Anna smiles thinking the young girl was joking but as she glances at her, her smile falls. "He…he asked me to that party by the cemetery."

Adele nods slowly. "It's Duke's party. He's a total douche but he throws some kick ass parties. Anyways enough about your hot date with my little brother, Damon wants me to make sure you came alone. Did you come alone?" Anna glances around them as if to prove a point. "It would seem that way." Adele nods. "It would." She stands turning to Damon as he appears beside her. He hands the grim war to her and she takes it pressing it to her chest tightly and walking away far enough that she can still hear but she isn't completely noticeable.

"I told you threes a crowd." Anna ignores his comment. "You're out a witch and I'm out a spell book." She pauses to let the observation sink in. "So what do you say?" Damon doesn't say anything for a moment and Adele wonders if he knows she's standing there. "Stefan will come after you, you know that. For messing with Elena." Obviously not because if he did know she was standing there he wouldn't have been so willing to say something like that so freely, when apparently he didn't have the balls to tell her on the way there and if she wasn't annoyed already, she was now.

"Then he won't be too happy when I kill her when I don't get what I want." Adele takes a step towards them as Anna stands up and starts to storm away. "Give the girl what she wants before she throws a damn temper tantrum and kills everyone Damon." Damon looks over at his shoulder at her shocked for a half a second because not only did she just snap at him but he didn't hear her come up behind him, he didn't even notice her here he thought for sure she had gone back to the car when he couldn't hear even the lightest of footsteps from her. "Damon please." She half mutters as Anna is getting further away from them and he sighs.

"When do you want to do this?" Anna stops walking and turns back to them. Glancing between the two she starts laughing which causes Adele to roll her eyes. "Wow, you Salvatore brothers are pathetic when it comes to women. At least this time it isn't the same one." When she gets no reaction from the two she continues. "Tonight after sun down, meet at the church."

When she's gone Adele turns on Damon. "How come you didn't tell me she had my sister?" Damon sighs looking up at her. "Because I didn't want you to worry." Adele takes a seat beside him on the bench. "If my sister goes messing again Damon and you know about it tell me."

~x~

Stefan though he thought that Grams plan was a good one that could easily be pulled off he saw one fault in it. "We still have to get Damon to agree." Elena turns to Stefan. "He already agreed once."

"Yeah and then we double crossed him so now he's angry." She shakes her head at Stefan because she doesn't get how Damon's own brother could mistake his pain for anger. "He's hurt. There's a difference…I think I know what I have to do." Stefan blinks at her before sighing.

"It's unlikely that he is going to trust you." She nods. "I know, but I know someone he will trust." Bonnie seems to be the only one truly confused because Grams didn't seem to interested as long as they got him to agree leaving her the only one not knowing what was going on at the moment as she looks between the couple. "Who?" Elena glances down at her. "Adele."

"No. We shouldn't involve her." Elena throws her arms above her head in frustration. "News flash Stefan! She already is involved! She involved herself when she tricked us into giving Damon the Grim War." Bonnie is half surprised by this only half. "She went against you?" Elena takes a deep breath to calm herself. "Yes. But she realized first what we didn't. There is a reason I always said she was way too smart for her own good." The last part was a comment more for herself then them as the three others in the room study the young girl. "She realized what we've all failed to realize."

_Sighing she gazes up at him noticing now just how close he really was, his warm breath brushed against her lips and she gulps gathering as much self-control as she can. "If I do help you and we are able to get Katherine out of the tomb…there is something I need you to do for me…" After a moment's thought he nods. "Of course."_

"_All you want is Katherine back…That's all you've wanted since arriving here?" The question almost hurts her to ask and he hesitates before he answers because yes that was what he wanted when he arrived and yes he still wants that but there was that part of him that almost didn't care whether he got her back or not as he stares down at the blonde. "Yes." _

"_Then I'll help you but only if when you get her out, you take her and you leave town…" She has to pause for a moment, swallowing thickly she continues. "Never come back. You don't hurt anyone here and you get to have her for the rest of your life." She mentally winces as her voice seems to crack despite her attempts to keep it emotionless. _

_Damon for a second feels hurt, he has half a thought to forget about the whole idea of him asking for her help but there's something about the way she is looking at him, like the words had caused her pain as she said them and he swallows. "Okay." He mutters. "Deal." _

~x~

Glancing over her shoulder Adele is half angry as she spots Elena standing in the door way of her bedroom. "Where the hell did you come from?" Her tone is clam and it almost worries Elena at just how clam. "Stefan." Adele rolls her blue eyes. "Of course. Why didn't I see _that one_ coming?" She mutters to herself and Elena steps into the room despite Adele's glare.

"I convinced Bonnie to help Damon." Adele sends Elena a frown as she moves towards her closet a pair of Jeans on a hanger in her hand. "Why don't I believe you?" She asks as she hangs the jeans up.

"I'm not going to say I'm sorry if that is what this is about. Besides you agreed to help us before you agreed to help Damon if anyone deserves an apology it's us." Adele smirks. "Don't hold your breath sister." Elena rolls her eyes. "I was trying to protect the people I love." Adele sighs turning back to Elena.

"You were putting everyone in more danger then you might have thought. I can't believe that I am the only one who sees exactly what is needed to be done here. Getting Katherine out of the tomb is this town's only hope for safety. I can't be the only one who realizes that? You can't be as stupid as to think destroying the one thing that is going to get Damon what he wants –the one thing Damon has been terrorizing the town because of– is a good idea. If you and Stefan had actually went through with destroying the grim war what makes you think Damon wouldn't have went on a killing spree Elena? Did you ever give any thought to the little minor detail that you're dealing with a blood thirsty Vampire who gives no regards to human life at all? You're a damn idiot if you actually thought that was a good idea."

There it was again, Adele's –twice as worse than it used to be– mean streak. Elena loved her sister but it was next to impossible to talk to her when she was in a mood like she was in now and Elena would be lying if she said she had given the idea some real thought before deciding that last night's plan was indeed a good one which in reality Adele was right, it wasn't. "He would have killed not only Stefan but you too and quite possibly me as well right on the spot." Elena nods weakly. "I see that now. I do. I don't know how I didn't see it before either…but I think there might be more to the reason of why you helped Damon."

"Don't try to put a double meaning behind things that don't _have_ double meanings Elena, you were never good at that." Elena is tempted to reach out for her sister but thinks better of it because she valued her hand exactly the way it was.

"I know you can't remember anything..." Adele makes a sudden clicking noise that makes Elena cut off and frown. "I see Stefan got to you as well my dear sister. Well why don't you tell Stefan to _butt out of my life_ and as for you…if there was something you wanted, great! Get on with it. If not…get out."

"You need to convince Damon to work with us. He won't trust us but he trust you." Adele crosses her arms. "What's funny about that is for a brief time last night he did trust you guys but you double crossed him and he was actually hurt. How do _I _knowI can trust you? I don't want to see Damon hurt like that again mostly because I don't want to be a vampire."

For a moment Elena is speechless. "What are you talking about? That was all an act last night!" Adele's eyes widen slightly. "I told Damon to follow my lead and he was doing a good job but the whole turning thing I did _not_ see coming, I was…okay I wasn't scared mostly because Damon was barely holding me and I realized I could break free if I very will wished to but _that _is beside the point." Adele cuts off in breath of air as she stares at her sister across the room.

"I'll make you a deal Elena. I'll convince Damon to work with you again but you screw him over and I'm leaving town, never to return and you can spend the time explaining to Jeremy why he keeps losing the ones he loves the most. We have a deal?" Elena is silent for a moment, staring at this girl who was her sister wondering exactly when she had become so protective over the man who was the cause of all there problems and why. "Okay. Fine."

~x~

Damon turns truly surprised when he hears Adele clear her throat from the doorway. "You look surprised to see me." He narrows his eyes slightly as he looks up at her. He just didn't get how she did it. "I think I've asked you this before but how are you so silent? I mean I can't even hear when you walk in the room and I have _very_ good hearing."

"I've always had a nag for sneaking up on people." She waves him off. "You should probably know Elena and Bonnie are free. Stefan got them." Damon looks for any sign that she might be joking, that she thought it would be funny to come in and play a practical and highly cruel joke on him but she was completely serious, completely calm. "Great! Now what do we do?"

"Well I didn't just come with bad news I also come with good news." Bouncing down the steps and into the room Adele flashes Damon a bright smile. "Elena has convinced Bonnie and her grandmother to help us." And Damon stares at her because she couldn't be serious right now, could she?

"Your joking? You can't be serious right now Kitten." Sighing Adele comes to stand in front of him. "I'm not joking, I'm completely serious." Some part of him is in disbelief while the other part is somewhat angry. "Before you go all scary Vampire on me here me out, she's not lying, call it a twin thing or just a bad judge in character but I'm 99.9 percent positive she isn't lying."

"I can't trust her." Adele shakes her head. "No you can't, but you can trust me. So trust me Damon." Her blue eyes are wide and her bottom lip is pushed out slightly and he mentally curses her because how was he supposed to say no when she looked at him like that? "Fine, but you have to promise me something." Happy –and somewhat surprised– that she got him to agree so easily she quickly nods. "Okay."

"Promise me you'll let Stefan tell you what is wrong and then give some thought to letting him help you." Her smile wavers slightly before she takes a deep breath. "Okay. I promise."

~x~

The old church was deeply hidden due to years of abandonment and neglect. There only way to get there was to pass through the woods meaning they would have to pass through an ongoing party which was at the moment extremely populated with a crowd of drinking and dancing teenagers much to Adele's utter horror. "I forgot about Duke's party." She mutters and Damon glances at her but says nothing.

"Is it really necessary for me to be here? I mean Elena and Stefan are going to be there to do whatever, Bonnie and her grandmother are going to be there to open the tomb, what is my purpose for me being there?" Damon after parking the car behind a very beat up old Chevy truck and turning off the engine turns to her. "Moral Support." Adele is left staring at the empty seat of the driver side as Damon leaves the car and hurries over to her side. Opening the door he holds out his hand letting her take it so he can help her out as a gust of cool air hits her making her shiver slightly. she looks up at him once standing completely straight. "Hi." He smiles.

"Hi." She ends up smiling back before he's dragging her towards the row of trees leading to Duke's party. Some of the teens she goes to school with stare at her and Damon's connected hands but stay otherwise silent besides the occasional whisper and she sighs because they we're going to most likely blow the whole thing out of context which made her want to pull her hand back but she resist.

Adele skids to a stop as Caroline and Matt cut in front of their path towards the church and Adele sighs looking up at Damon's annoyed expression. "Adele…Hey. I haven't seen or heard from you in a while." Gazing between the two of them Caroline's smile fades slowly. "What are you doing?" Before she has a chance to come up with an answer, Damon cuts her off. "It's a long story."

"I wasn't talking to you." Damon sends a smile towards the slightly taller blonde. "Sure you were." Matt sensing a bit of tension in the air holds out his hand. "We haven't met. I'm Matt." Damon barely glances at him. "Matt…there's a reason we haven't met." Walking around the two Damon tightens his hold on her hand pulling her along with her. "You and I are going this way." Glancing back Adele waves slightly to the two before continuing on with Damon.

~x~

Grams glances around them seeming just slightly worried. "Are you sure she'll be able to bring him here?" Elena nods but before she says anything a whistle cuts her off and the four of them turn spotting Damon pulling Adele along behind him. "Brother, Brothers girlfriend, Witches." It wasn't a practically warm greeting not that Elena was even counting on a greeting at all.

Once everyone had made it down the steps Adele takes a seat on a step close to the bottom and watches silently. Part of her wished she was out partying with Tyler and Caroline but then again she wasn't actually in the mood for partying. Really she just wanted to go home and sleep but Damon insisted on her being there so there she was forced to watch the witches open the tomb and the happy reunion of Damon and his _one true love_. The thought makes her stomach turn.

So deep in thought Adele barely realizes that torches are lit and the witches had started chanting in a different language, what language? Adele didn't care enough to pay _that_ much attention but as they chanted the fire from the torches grew causing Adele to crawl up a step and flinch away and she was thankful that no one seemed to notice.

Stone moving against stone takes her attention away from the fire and towards the door of the tomb which was moving, opening. "Don't you have fires to build?" Moving out of the way of Stefan she moves down the steps and more towards Elena. Damon glances between the four of them and Adele narrows her eyes into the darkness of the tomb. "You ready?"

"What?" Adele doesn't look up at either Damon or Elena until Damon reaches past her sister to grab her wrist. "Not you. You." Adele's eyes widen slightly as he yanks her towards him and the darkness.

"You think I'm going in there alone so you can seal me in?" The question was directed at the witches. "Don't bring her in there. I'll bring the walls down." Damon gives the elder witch a knowing smirk. "You'll bring the walls down if I don't. You think I trust you?"

"Okay we're not going to start a witch vs vampire war right now." Reaching over Adele picks one of the burning torches from the ground and hands it to Damon. "Let's go." Adele plucks the flashlight out of Elena's hand before following behind the vampire into the unwelcoming darkness.

As they continued further into the tomb whispers surrounded them and Adele takes a step closer to Damon. "What is that?" Damon glances back at her briefly. "They can sense you. Don't worry, you're safe. Now where is she?" Before she could blink Damon was gone and she skids to a stop. "Damon…"

"Damon! God damn it, Asshole." Sighing she gazes around her. Should she go back or continue on? If she goes back she risks the witches trying to seal him in. If she stays she's surrounded by a bunch of mummified vampires who can't exactly do anything. She continues into the darkness with only the flashlight as her main source of light.

~x~

She trips catching herself before she lands on her knees and curses as her flashlight falls from her hand and lands a few feet away. Walking over she picks it up before standing up straight and flicking her hair out of her face with a dramatic sigh. This wasn't the way she wanted to spend her Saturday night. "Damon…" She calls once more as she continues on.

As she flashes the light to the side it crosses over one of the vampires and she slows down to a stop. She takes a slow step forward moving the flashlight over another one of the vampires. No matter where she flashed the light it came across another vampire which makes her wonder how many vampires there were in their small town back in 1864.

She shines her light down on one of the vampires bending down to get a better look and as she did it's eyes open and she raises an eyebrow, it really must suck to be them right now. Standing back up she moves the light to continue on her way before slowly back tracing to the corner. "Well you're differently not mummified." Anna sends her a smirk.

~x~

Stefan returns with the gas gazing around at the two witches and Elena. He couldn't help but notice someone was missing. "Where's Adele?" Elena shakes her head but doesn't stop her pacing to look at him. "Damon took her inside with him." Stefan drops the gasoline from his hand and jerks towards the tomb door. "If you go in there you won't come out."

He skids to a halt turning to look at the elder witch. "What did you do?" Grams straightens her shoulders and raises her chin as she looks at the vampire. "Opening the door didn't remove the seal. It just opened the door."

"What's the seal?" Grams takes a second to respond. "Some seals keep vampires from going in. This seal keeps vampires from coming out." Stefan regards the elder witch in silence for a minute. "Adele is human. She can come out. Katherine's not she can't, which means Damon cant. You were never planning on breaking the spell."

Grams takes a step back from Stefan. "I told you, I will protect my own. Adele can get out…that's all that matters." Elena had stopped pacing to stare at Bonnie's grandmother because that wasn't all that mattered at least not until Adele came out.

~x~

"You must have a taste for it." Adele switches the flashlight to her other hand as she studies the approaching vampire. "Excuse me?" Anna sends her a smile that seemed only half sincere. "You've been falling Damon around all night and day though I'm getting the feeling that isn't exactly on your own will." Adele shrugs a shoulder taking a step back to create some distance between them. "Everything I've done has been on my own free will._ I _chose to help Damon."

"Well he seems very smitten over you." Taking another step back Adele lets out a surprised gasps as she trips slightly bringing the light down to see what it was she had tripped over. "Mother!" Anna rushes forward making Adele stumble back to keep the distance she had worked to create between them. Anna turns back to look at the blonde. "You're sister's boyfriend did this." Adele raises an eyebrow before holding up a finger. "Don't confuse history. His father did."

"And Jonathon Gilbert, I made the choice a long time ago that it would be Gilbert blood that brought her back to life. I had Jeremy all ready to go…" Adele's hand catches the handle of her gun but she wasn't fast enough. Anna rushes towards her one hand going out to catch her shoulder, the other forcing the hand that held the gun up and the gun falls to the ground. "Let me guess wooden bullets? I should have expected you of all peop-Shit!" Anna stumbles back out of surprise letting Adele go her hand reaches up to touch her now bleeding forehead where Adele had banged heads with her.

Anna jumps to the left a gasps escaping her as the wooden stake in Adele's hand grazes her arm and she wonders only for a second where it had come from. Lashing out Anna tries to grab her but with surprising speed that Anna didn't know a human could have Adele dodges and swipes her arm out catching Anna in the cheek and Anna cruses. Before Adele has a chance to react Anna leaps forward knocking the stake out of Adele's hand and Adele jumps back out of Anna's reach.

Glancing to the side Adele eyes the gun not too far from her. Kicking her boot into the dirt she sends a cloud of dust flying up and Anna coughs turning her head away at which point Adele jumps for the gun but Anna recovers to quickly grabbing the girl by her blonde hair and yanking her up. Grabbing a hold of her forearm Anna bites into the delicate flesh of her wrist a little harder than necessary causing Adele to shirk in pain.

~x~

Stefan hears the shirk and a million horrible thoughts and images run though his mind of Adele being hurt possibly even dead the longer he sat there and did nothing at which causes him to turn and run through the darkness of the tomb's opening with Elena yelling after him to stop but before she has a chance to follow him Bonnie grabs a hold of her forearm yanking her back. "He can't stay in there!" She cries fighting against the girl she calls a best friend. "He made his choice." Was Grams only response. Bonnie looking between her Best friend and Grandmother feels torn.

"Show me how to do it." Bonnie lets go of Elena trusting her not to run into the tomb unarmed and alone. Bonnie picks up the grim war turning to her grandmother. ""Were not strong enough, even if we could get the seal down there's no telling if we could get it back up."

"You said it yourself, many things could foul a witch's power, help me or I'll do it alone." Grams stared at her granddaughter before nodding and gently taking the book from her.

~x~

Adele is struggling against the vampire as she presses her bleeding wrist against the other –almost dead– vampires' mouth. There is only a few second between the time her blood is being feed to the half dead vampire till Stefan is pushing Anna away and telling her to go on, that he would be right behind her and she turns making sure to grab her gun before making a run for the entrance to the tomb.

Adele rushes out of the entrance of the tomb feeling as if she had ran through a door made of glass causing her to stumble and land on her knees. It was as if the glass wall had tried but failed to keep her inside the tomb which makes her look up at the entrance frowning. Her frown only deepens when Stefan stops instead of coming out. As if reading her mind he shakes his head. "I can't." She pushes herself from the ground

"Can't? You can't? You can't what?" Elena takes a step forward before stepping back deciding against the idea of moving any closer to her sister at this moment because she looks angry and she's holding a fully loaded gun. "The spell is still up. They can't get out. Not yet." Turning her burning blue eyes to Elena she raises an eyebrow. "Who can't get out? Vampires?" Elena nods. "So this was a trick?" Elena flinches back as Adele's voice gets louder. "I didn't know…"

"Like hell you didn't! So what happened Elena? Why have the witches decided to break the spell? Because Stefan went in? What would have happened if he didn't? You'd leave Damon in there to rot? God I can't believe I trusted you!" Elena upon seeing the edges of her sisters blue eyes turning black takes another step away from her. Elena had never truly been afraid of Adele before but at this very moment she was terrified.

"Why did you go in there, if you knew you couldn't get out?" Adele turns to Stefan. "I heard you scream." Sighing Adele takes a step towards him. "You shouldn't have run in. Not if it means you might not get out."

"They're bringing the seal down." Turning back to Elena Adele scoffs. "I'll believe it when it happens. You think I trust her?" Adele mentions to Bonnie who was too busy with the spell to notice but Elena just sinks back further and sighs. "Find him." Adele demands and Stefan nods before disappearing into the blackness.

~x~

Adele wasn't much for patience, never had been. There was times when her patience ran so thin she was close to pulling out her hair…this was one of those times as she paces the entrance of the tomb waiting for Stefan and Damon.

Coming to a stop Adele watches as Anna steps from the shadows of the tomb helping her mother along. Anna glances at her quickly. "I just wanted my mother. Jeremy's outside. He's fine." Adele glare told Anna to keep moving and she did, not wanting to stick around the blonde any longer than necessary.

The fire was dying, the witches were getting tired, Elena was getting nervous and Adele was getting anxious. Turning the flash light back on Adele turns to Elena briefly to explain she was going to find them and before Elena has the chance to protest she was gone back into the still unwelcoming darkness.

She didn't realize how many turns and twist a tomb under the ground could have until she was actually running through one. She wasn't even sure she was going the right way but something was telling her to go the way she was. Something was pulling her closer towards the back of the tomb.

Adele stops in the arch way leading into another section of the tomb and looks between the Salvatore brothers. Damon was staring at Stefan as if he could rip his head off right then and there but there was no sign of Elena's look alike with him. "Damon…" Glancing up his blue eyes catch hers. "Let's go…Please." His tense shoulder slump forward and he lets out a struggled breath before fixing his leather jacket.

Upon finally getting out of the tomb this time without the feeling of breaking through a glass wall, Adele doesn't stop to say anything to anyone, to even acknowledge them when they call her name, not only did she feel like she was going to be sick, that fresh air would do her some good, she remembered Anna had said Jeremy was outside and he was, unconscious a few feet away from the steps towards the trees.

She drops to her knees beside him checking for any other signs of injury besides being knocked out and when she finds none she lets out the breath she didn't realize she was holding. Resting her head on Jeremy's chest she takes a few deep breaths to calm her racing heart only looking up when Elena and hStefan show up next to her.

She leaves there side once she spots Damon. She approaches him slowly, as if cautious of what he might do. When she's in front of him she stops gazing up at him as he gazes back at her. "She wasn't in there…she was_ never_ in there." He whispers. "I am so sorry…" Getting up onto her tiptoes she wraps her toned arms around his neck but he's to hurt to be surprised, instead he rests his hands on her lower back pulling her closer because there was something about being so close to her that was comforting.

~x~

Her head hurt, there were too many thoughts running through her mind at once that it had given her a head ache. There wasn't anything she really wanted to do more than crawl into bed and sleep for a week if not longer.

She slipped off her top replacing it with a loose fitting tank top and she replaces her jeans with a pair of Hello Kitty shorts before throwing her hair into a messy pony tail. Unhooking her necklace and slipping off her bracelets she makes her way over to her Jewelry box sitting on her dresser. It was small dark wooden box that consisted of a picture of her and her parents from a summer or two ago. Her mother had given it to her on her 13th birthday.

Opening it up she listens to the soft song that the small little ballerina played while she twirled before placing her Jewelry in their rightful places a ring catches her eye and she reaches for it pulling it out. She holds it up watching as it seems to sparkle in the dim lighting of her room. She flinches as the first of many ear piercing screams hits her.

She clinches the ring in her hand closing her eyes and all she see's is the flames crawling up the walls of the living room, someone is screaming for her to move, to run but she's frozen, horrified. Opening in her eyes in a gasps she backs up towards her bedroom door. Letting out a small whimper as the screaming gets louder, she swings open her bedroom door racing from the room because she feels as If she was suffocating, as if smoke was filling her lungs making it next to impossible to breath.

She stumbles down the hall bumping into the railing of the stairs as she looks for something to grip. She lifts her hands to cover her ears as if it would help get rid of the screaming. Her legs can't hold her weight and she crashed to her knees in front of the steps.

~x~

Jeremy who was preoccupied with his search on vampires hears the banging in the hall but he ignore it, thinking someone had just dropped something that is until he hears the much bigger noise closer to his bedroom now and he stands from his computer chair decided to check on it. It was either Adele or Aunt Jenna for they were the only ones home.

Upon opening his door he spots Adele on her knees with her hands covering her ears and her eyes shut tight rocking back and frothing muttering something that he couldn't hear. "Adele!" Racing over he drops down in front of her and he can finally hear what she is saying. "Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop."

"Adele…" He places his hands on her own hands that are covering her ears forcing her head up to look at him and her eyes open wide, wider than he thought possible. "Fire..." He frowns. "Fire…where?"

"Everywhere! Make them stop screaming! Make them stop!" He takes his hands away as she starts to shake. "Jenna!" He calls out as she places her head on her knees. "Jenna!"

"What's going on? What's wrong with her?" Jeremy not knowing exactly what do say just shakes his head. "What do we do? I don't know what's going on!" Jenna backs up. "Try to calm her down, I'm calling 911."

Jeremy reaches for her again but this time she fights him, with a surprising amount of strength for such a petite girl. Though she had always been stronger than most would give her credit for. "Adele stop!" Her closed fist strikes him in the side of his jaw causing her hand to open and he hears but doesn't see the clash of something on the wooden floors but he figures Adele is a little more important than whatever it was she had in her hand. Grabbing the tops of her arms he forces them down. He pulls her to him, pressing her shaking body against his chest and suddenly she becomes still, silent. He pulls back to look at her just to notice she had passed out. "Jenna! She passed out!"


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11 is here. Now I'm almost done with schooling, I have a couple more test to take and I'm done so the chapters will be coming faster I promise. I hope you all enjoy this chapter; it is much longer than the original. (: **

**I would like about 4 or more reviews before I update next please. ^^**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

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><p><strong>Chapter 11: A Few Good Men <strong>

Jenna slows down slowly as she approaches Elena who is sat on the bench at the far end of the porch with her dairy opened in her lap and her phone pressed against her ear. Upon seeing Jenna she quickly ends the message she is leaving for Bonnie and places the phone in her lap. "What are you doing out here? It's cold." Elena gives her aunt a small smile as she shrugs a shoulder. "Thinking, writing. Bonnie's grandmother's funeral brought back a lot about mom and dad." Jenna nods glancing up at the house. "How is she?"

Elena pauses turning to look up at the house as well. "She's fine. Completely normal, she actually left the house today, she's not even home." Jenna turns back to her niece. "Elena she scared me. I was terrified. I didn't know what was going on…" Elena gazes up at her aunt and part of her feels guilty for not being able to tell her the truth. "It's okay. You did the right thing by calling 911." _Not that they could do much for her. _

"After the paramedics took her to the hospital I had run up stairs to grab a coat and I almost slipped on this." Pulling an object out of her coat pocket she holds it up letting the sun make the diamond sparkle and Elena's mouth opens in disbelief. "Is that a…"

"Engagement ring? Yes." Pushing her dairy and her phone aside Elena sits up to take the small ring from Jenna. "Do you think it's hers?" Jenna nods. "Her name is engraved into it along with the name Tony. It makes me wonder if she was engaged to a guy named Tony while away what happened to him? Where is he now? I was planning on talking to her but I didn't want to make things worse."

"Um…do you mind if I keep this?" Jenna shakes her head. "I'll talk to her about it. See what's going on. Then I'll give the ring back. She'll probably want it back." Jenna shrugs. "Okay."

~x~

"If you do decide to go talk to Isobel's friend, I'll go with you." Elena shakes her head lightly at Stefan. "I just don't know what I'm going to do yet. I'm thinking that if I do go maybe I should take Adele with me. You know finally tell her what's going on."

Stefan nods but stays otherwise silent choosing just to hold her for a moment before pulling back. "How is she? Adele?" Elena gives him a half-hearted smile. "Everyone seems to be asking that today. She's fine, she woke up this morning and it was like a switch had been flicked, she was completely normal. A group of girls from school called and asked if she would have breakfast with them and she agreed. So basically not only is she over the whole break down thing, she's back to being the girl everyone wants to be around because if there seen with her there social status goes up like 10 points." Elena gives a short laugh before sighing.

"Jenna found this the night it happened." Pulling the ring from her pocket she hands it to Stefan who frowns. "It's an engagement ring...is it hers?" Elena nods. "Oh yeah, It's hers. It's engraved and I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this Tony guy has to now be dead for someone to want to make her forget about the whole summer."

"But that someone would have had to be a witch, not to mention when she came back not only was she on vervain but she knew vampires existed, which has to make you wonder…who was she hanging out with all summer?"

~x~

"You want to discuss the woman of my past right now? Seriously?" Damon in his half-drunk state gives his brother a disbelieving look. Had he really pulled him away from his college blood donors to ask him about some woman from his past? "Not only you're past but you're present as well. The woman I'm talking about right now though, you killed her."

"What's your point?" Stefan shrugs slightly glancing back over to the college girls sitting on their couch. "I was just wondering if you remember anything about her." Damon doesn't hesitate to answer him. "That's like a needle in a haystack Stefan."

"Well think hard it's important." Damon slaps a hand onto his younger brother's shoulder has he gazes down at him before he leans close to whisper in his ear. "Nothing is important, not anymore." Letting go he takes his bottle back from Stefan. "Nice chat. I have to go exploit some woman in the name of grief. I'm sure you understand."

"What about Adele…?" Just the sound of her name makes him freeze in his quest back to his college girls, it clears the college girls from his mind completely but he doesn't turn around. Not yet. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't thought about the blonde the past couple of days. Some deep part of him wished that instead of the cute college girls he was here with the blonde vixen but she hadn't showed up or called to see how he was. "Is she important?"

Finally turning back to his brother Damon tilts his head. "Depends, why are we talking about her?" Stefan twists the diamond ring in his hand as he watches his older brother. "She had a breakdown the night we got into the tomb, was hospitalized for the night let out in the morning. She stayed locked in her bedroom till today, she finally went out, so I don't even have to tell you she's getting worse but Jenna found this…" He holds up the ring and Damon's eyes follow it as he twists it. "On the floor in the hall, she was holding it when everything happened. Elena is sure that she was engaged over the summer and that her fiancé must be dead for someone to want her to forget…I just thought you should know."

Damon ever so slowly reaches out and plucks the ring from Stefan's fingers to get a closer look. When he looks back up Stefan is gone and his college girls are staring at him. He cruses under his breath because thanks to the little ring in his hand that belonged to the vixen he found on his mind a lot more then he would have liked, he found himself in no mood to continue to party.

~x~

Elena was in the middle of unlocking Jenna's car when she heard the rumble of her sisters mustang pulling up to the curb and she stuffs the little piece of yellow paper into her pocket as she watches her sister step from the still running car. "Where are you going?" Elena shakes her head. "Nowhere, I was just looking for one of my jackets…"

"What's on the piece of paper you just stuffed into your pocket?" Elena shrugs. "What paper?" Adele raises an eyebrow before holding out her hand and Elena sighs walking forward and ripping the paper from her pocket placing it into her sisters out stretched hand. Adele takes a moment to look it over. "Trudie Peterson? Who the hell is Trudie Peterson and why does she live in the middle of fucking nowhere?"

"She was a friend…of our birth mom. We were adopted." Adele is just staring at her and Elena wonders if her sister is about to laugh in her face or scream at her but she's shocked when she does neither. "Oh, that's what this is about. Cool, get in. I'll drive." Elena though she has many, _many _questions doesn't say anything while she circles the car to place herself in the passenger seat.

It isn't till there out of the neighborhood that she finally says something. "Why aren't you freaking out on me? For keeping the fact that we were adopted from you?" Adele laughs slightly glancing at Elena. "Because I knew, I heard you and Jenna talking about it the night you found out. Plus I just don't care."

"How could you not care? We were adopted! Mom and Dad lied to us!" Adele gives her sister a side long glance. "Lied to us about what? We never asked them if they were our real parents therefore they didn't lie to us, they withheld information there's a difference Elena. Not to mention that even if they weren't our birthparents, they were our parents. They raised us, they loved us, and they knew us, which isn't something we can say about whoever the hell gave us up in the first place." Elena looks away from her and Adele sighs. "Come on Elena. You know it's true. Mom and Dad are our parents and they always will be. Jeremy is as much our brother as you and I are sisters."

She was right; Elena knew that but the idea of being adopted and having to find out by her boyfriend months after the death of the people who raised her left a bitter taste in her mouth that wouldn't let her attempt anything to Adele. She just didn't understand, couldn't understand how Adele could be so unaffected by this.

But as Elena glances back over at her sister she can tell the topic was already dropped for Adele seemed very involved in making sure she wasn't going to crash into anything as she typed out a text on her IPhone. "Who are you texting? Don't you know texting and driving is a bad thing?"

"I'm sending a quick text to Damon…" She mutters as she places the phone back in the cup holder. "I've been meaning to ask him how he was holding up. I've been thinking about the look on his face the night we got into the tomb…" She doesn't continue on her thoughts and Elena doesn't know whether she's more shocked that Adele had been thinking about Damon so much during her time locked in her room or the fact that she actually told Elena that she was thinking about Damon in the first place.

~x~

"Adele please be nice." Adele sends her sister a smirk. "I'm just saying I don't get how people can live so far out in the middle of nowhere. Unless she has like the hottest man ever locked away in there she has to be some kind of freak."

"And I'm just saying, be nice." Elena mutters as they climb the steps to the porch of Trudie Peterson house. Once they were standing in front of the door Elena seems to freeze and Adele gives her a strange look. "Aren't you going to knock?"

"I can't do this." Elena turns away from the door as if to make a run for it but before she has the chance to make it to the steps Adele knocks causing Elena to turn back to her in horror. "You brought us all the way out here so you could talk to this woman Elena and you're not chickening out now. You're talking to that damn woman; you're not wasting my gas for nothing." Elena opens her mouth most likely to protest but she's silenced by the opening of the door causing the twins to turn in the direction where there's a woman studying the two of them and Adele can't be the only one who notices that she seems to be acting a bit nervous.

"Trudie…Trudie Peterson?" Elena's voice seems steady enough but Adele can tell she's just as nervous as the lady in the door way who nods at her. "I'm Elena Gilbert and this is my twin Adele." Adele gives the woman a one sided smirk as her way of a greeting. "We wanted to talk to you about Isobel Fleming."

"Well I haven't heard that name in years. How do you know her?" Elena glances at Adele hoping that maybe she would take over because at this point she felt like she was going to be sick and Adele sighs turning to the woman. "Do you know if she had twins she gave up for adoption?" The woman studies the both of them before realization crosses her features. "Oh my god. You're her daughters." Adele nods.

"I was just going to make some tea. Do you girls want some?" Adele glances at Elena before smiling softly at the woman. "Sure." Trudie steps to the side holding the door open for them. "The…uh kitchen is this way." Elena gives the woman a small nervous smile before walking in and Adele follows behind her making sure to keep an eye on the strange woman behind her. There just was something that struck Adele as odd about her…She just couldn't place it.

Adele takes in her surroundings has Elena goes on about how their mother taught them how to drive before they jumped straight into the questions while Adele took a seat next to her sister. Adele could see the two were well on their way to having a deep conversion about this woman who gave birth to her so before they could she leans forward. "Do you know who my father is?" Trudie looks a bit taken back by her question and Elena looks at her before turning back to Trudie who takes a minute to regain herself. "I could never get her to fuss up." Adele nods, pressing her lips together and leaning back.

Trudie went into saying how Isobel was such a smart girl, how she got into Duke on a scholarship and Elena can't help but look at Adele and smile because now she knew where she got it from, Adele just happened to be way too smart for her own good.

~x~

Adele plays with the spoon in her tea as the two talk about things related to or directly about her birth Mother and Adele find herself toning them out, wondering exactly how long she was going to have to sit there because she only came for one reason and that was to find out who the bastard was that got this Isobel woman knocked up in the first place, but obviously she wasn't going to find out from her and Adele really shouldn't be so surprised. Nothing is ever that easy.

Trudie seeming to notice Adele playing with her tea smiles warmly at her. "You girls haven't touched your tea." Adele picks up the glass at the same time as Elena and while Elena takes a sip Adele frowns because before the cup could reach her lips she smells the strong scent of Vervain and Elena seems to notice right after her. "What is this?" The woman is a little too quick to answer for Adele's liking and just like that everything seems to fall into place. Why the woman was so nervous when she answered the door, the way she avoided inviting them in, and how she was serving them vervain.

"You know." It wasn't a question and Adele's tone offers that she's not in the mood for games but the lady insist on playing dumb anyways. "Know what?" Adele licks her top lip. "Don't play dumb with me Lady. You know what I'm talking about."

"You should probably leave." Adele pushes herself out of the chair to stand eye to eye with Trudie. "What aren't you telling us?"

"Please leave…" Adele makes no move to back down. "Now!" Elena stands grabbing Adele's arm. "Come on, let's go."

"If I find out what you're hiding, I swear to you I will come back here and if you're not here I will track you down and I will kick your ass. I can promise you that." Every part of Adele's body felt like it was on fire with some sort of rage that made it hard to focus on anything other than wanting to smash the lady's face into her pretty little dining room table.

"Adele! Let's go!" Elena yanks her towards the front door and instead of fighting like she wanted to she let Elena led her away because she was sure nothing good would have come out of her staying in there.

"What the hell was that?" Adele glances back at Elena as she rushes to her mustang. "What are you talking about Elena?"

"What am I talking about? You threatened her!"

"She was a bitch! She's totally hiding something!" Adele pulls the keys to the mustang from her pocket unlocking the door as fast as she could. "Who are you? It's like I don't even know you anymore!"

"You never knew me Elena! You were too busy worrying about you're social status to worry about anybody but yourself!"

"What are you talking about? You were the one everyone wanted to be around!"

"Because I wasn't desperate for attention, I didn't give a shit if people liked me or not! I wasn't concerned with pleasing the whole damn school! Why don't see it? You can't live without the attention being on you, you can't stand it when everything is not about you!" Elena sucks in a shaking breath as she looks at her sister over the top of the mustang. Adele had never said anything like that to her before; Elena never knew that Adele even felt that way about her.

Snapping her head to the side Adele narrows her eyes at the man standing in the middle of the road, watching them. "Get in the car." She mutters and Elena turns her head to see what it was that Adele was staring at before nodding her head and rushing herself to get in the car. Once in Adele doesn't bother with her seat belt before she speeds off wanting to but as much distance between them and the weird guy as possible.

"I know about you're engagement." Adele is so taken back by Elena's comment that she turns her head to stare at her causing the car to make its way into the other lane which in return makes her have to swerve to avoid a crash with an oncoming car.

"What engagement?" Elena looks over at her sister before remembering the Adele's little problem and she cruses. "I mean I know about that Engagement ring you have."

"Engagement ring? Oh…that one. Where is it?" Elena turns her head to out the window. "I gave it to Stefan; I think he gave it to Damon." Adele doesn't say anything at first and Elena turns back to look at her wishing she hadn't when she sees that Adele is gripping the stirring wheel so hard her knuckles have turned white. "You gave my ring to Stefan?"

Adele wasn't sure where the ring had come from, she had just found it one day in her jewelry box but every time she looked at it, her stomach would clinch and her heart would race and every part of her body would tingle. She loves that ring, why? She doesn't know why, but she _loves _that ring.

"Who the hell said it was you're to give to anyone else? That's my ring Elena." Elena can see in the reflection of the mirror the very edges of her sisters blue eyes turning black and she swallows. "Jenna found it, she gave it to me and I gave it to Stefan who gave it to Damon."

"Here's what I'm going to do Elena. I'm going to drop you off at home and _drive off. _I don't want you to call me or text me. I don't want Jenna or Jeremy to call me or text me. Do not run to Stefan and get him to call or text me. I don't want to talk to you, or anyone else remotely involved in your life what so ever. I need time to myself…Get it?" Elena nods. "Good. Get out."

It takes Elena a moment to realize that they were home and she steps from the car slowly, barely having time to close the door before her sister drives off and Elena has never seen her sister so mad. She wasn't even that mad when she realized Damon may be trapped in the tomb forever.

~x~

20 minutes later and she find herself walking into the Auto Shop she works at, being greeted by some of the other workers. She makes her way over to the very back of the garage hopping up onto the counter next to a Black SUV. "What are you doing here? You don't work today." Adele lets out a dramatic sigh causing the guy under the car to roll out and gaze up at her. "Have you ever been so mad that you want to rip out someone's heart?"

"Will please don't make it my heart. I need my heart." Adele rolls her eyes at the dark haired boy. "What's up Baby Girl?"

"Besides the fact that I still hate that nick name?" He nods and she shrugs. "I'm just mad Bruce. Everything seems to piss me off today."

"I've had those days. Especially when we get those Assholes that come in and stand over us to make sure we're not messing up their cars when they didn't even know what was wrong with the car in the first place." Adele laughs as she watches Bruce shake his head and roll his eyes. "I'm going to take a wild guess and say you had one of them assholes today didn't you?"

"One of them? I had three of them! One of them brought there girlfriend and was standing over me trying to tell me how to fix the problem just to show off and to make it worse, I wasn't even fixing that part of the engine." Adele smiles at him as he pushes himself up onto his feet. "How did you know it was me anyways?" He sends her a smirk. "I saw you walk by, not only are you in heels which you always wear, you have the most amazing legs, so I figured it could only be you."

"You can only tell it's me by my legs? Is that what you're saying?"

"You know that's not what I meant." She gives him a smile that says she was just messing around at which he returns. "I'm not lying though. You have amazing legs. Actually…you have basically amazing everything."

"Well thank you. You're not too bad you're self." He was really handsome; she didn't actually seem to notice till now as she finally looks at him. He was either 6 foot or a little shorter she really couldn't be too sure and he was lean with a nice solid build. His dark hair was just on the short side, he usually kept it styled in the front to where it wasn't hanging into his face but every once in a while –like now– he left it alone, leaving it to fall in front of his leaf green eyes.

Bruce sets his tool box on the counter next to her. "Are you going to tell me why you decided to come here and distract me from finishing the brakes of this massive SUV?" Adele glances at the SUV. "It is pretty massive." Bruce gives her a nod. "You're trying to change the subject."

"I am not. I don't know why I came here. Maybe it's cause I knew you were working."

"I'm always working."

"I know it gets kind of annoying seeing you so much." He raises an eyebrow at her. "Is that why you rushed over here so fast to see me?" She laughs kicking her feet out in front of her. "Now now Bruce don't get the wrong idea."

"Already did." He whispers as he's wiping off some of the tools he was using. She smacks him in the arm causing him to drop the wrench and laugh. "Ow, come on now. There is no need to get all touchy feely on me."

"Maybe I want to get all touchy feely with you." Reaching out she pokes two fingers into his side making him jump away. "No…" He laughs making her eyes widen. "You're ticklish? Oh my god!" She reaches for him again but he grabs her hand. "Are you ticklish?" She scrunches up her nose. "No." He smirks. "Mhm…" Reach for her, his hand grips a hold of her side squeezing lightly causing her to shirk. "Bruce no!" She wiggles away from him but he pulls her back causing her to laugh as he attacks her sides.

She's not sure what happened, one minute she's fighting against him and the next minute she's kissing him, pulling him as close as she can. She's not sure if she kissed him to get him to stop tickling her or if he kissed her for whatever reason but she didn't care. She just wants him closer.

"What time is it?" She asks once she pulls away only slightly. Bruce glances down at his phone quickly. "Almost 7:30." She curses. "I got to go; I have something to take care of." He nods resting his head on her shoulder for a split second before stepping back to let her jump off the counter. Before she leaves she turns back to him. "I'll…call you tomorrow or something." He sends her a smile. "Okay."

~x~

There isn't much Adele can do but rest her head against her steering wheel as she sits in the parking lot of the auto shop. She went in there for a distraction and she got one, an unexpected and surprising one at that.

Bruce is her co-worker, a guy she's known for years. He was a football player in his junior year and she was just starting out as a freshman, playing backup for the snottiest girl in school on the cheerleading squad.

Her name was Elizabeth Fanning and she was Bruce's girlfriend at the time. She was also the first person Adele ever got into a fight with in high school of course. Because Bruce was so interest –which back then was more of a brotherly interest– in almost everything Adele did Elizabeth found her as the most appropriate target for her bulling, but Elizabeth never realized that Adele was never one to put up with people giving her a hard time.

So when the opportunity presented itself Adele ended up cracking one of the older girl's ribs and breaking her pinky finger in a fight that would end with Bruce breaking the two of them up and dumping Elizabeth on the spot for even thinking about hurting Adele and Michael her boyfriend at the time of a few months saved her from two weeks suspension, how he pulled that off she still wasn't sure but it sure made her parents like him more than they already had at the time.

Bruce had become a good friend of hers since that year and was the only guy who stood up for her right to work in the shop with them but of course that wasn't enough for Corbin to hire her. It wasn't till Damon did whatever it was he did that she was hired and thinking of Damon made Adele feel somewhat guilty about kissing Bruce.

But why should she feel Guilty? It wasn't like her and Damon are dating or anything. Sure they were friends, friends with a little more feeling towards each other than friends should feel but it wasn't like they were going to do anything about. He was too hung up on a woman who tricked him into thinking she was locked in a tomb for years and she was…well she was pretty sure she was going crazy. Especially when there was a transparent guy no one else could see sitting in the passenger seat next to her.

She had actually started getting used to having the man around. He seemed to be always being there, weather he was hiding or standing right next to her –in this case sitting next to her– he always seemed to be there. Even when she was cooped up in her room the past couple of days after being released from the hospital he was there watching her, and she would occasionally talk to him though he never said anything back.

Starting the car she pulls out of the parking lot of the shop as fast as she can, making her way towards the Salvatore Boarding house. Thinking of the transparent guy made her remember the reason she left the shop in the first place. Damon has her ring.

~x~

Upon arriving Adele spots Aunt Jenna's car in the drive way and she cursed because she really wanted to avoid Elena at the point. She didn't feel bad or regret anything she had said to Elena back at Trudie Peterson's house but she was sure she had hurt Elena pretty badly and she didn't want to have to deal with that at the moment.

She stops by Damon's special alcohol stash before making her way up the stairs to find Damon, who she does find talking to her sister of course. "Wrecked, you look wrecked."

"Well it's better to be wrecked then sober." The two turn theirs in her direction and while Elena shy's back Damon smirks. "Amen to that." He mutters as he watches the blonde regard her sister. "Aren't you driving?" Elena asks mentioning towards the glass in her hand. "I tend to drive better after a few drinks." Elena takes Adele's rude tone as her cue to go and look for Stefan and she excuse herself before leaving the room.

"Did you know that I am one of Mystic Falls most eligible bachelors?" _Yes I knew that. _"Really? I did not know that." She smirks as she turns her blue eyes up to his face instead of staring at his shirtless torso. He rolls his eyes as he turns his back to her walking over to the mirror and picking up the shirt he had laid out on the back of the chair. "How are you doing?" Her tone is soft yet firm kind of sarcastic as if saying she cared but could care more if she wanted to.

Damon stays silent as he picks up the shirt. "Fine, the real question is how are you?"

"I'm fine. Why do you ask?" She watches as he slips the shirt on. "Oh you know, I've heard some things from some people. Anyways, what can I do for you? I'm a barrel of favors today." He mutters while concentrating on the buttons of his shirt.

Adele can see by the way he frowns and mumbles under his breath about favors that he was having a little trouble with getting the buttons buttoned up and she smirks because she never thought she'd see the day when Damon Salvatore would find his match in the form of tiny shirt buttons.

Walking over she swats his hand away and he sighs looking down to watch her work on the buttons. "I heard you have my ring." She mumbles just loud enough so he can hear clearly. "I do." He nods his eyes taking in the features of her beautiful face, from the color of her eyes to the structure of her high cheek bones and her button nose to her pink pouty lips. He finds himself wanting to kiss her, very badly wanting to lean forward and kiss her.

"I found out who my birthmother was." She was almost done, only a few more buttons and something tells her it shouldn't have even taken this long to button up a shirt but she was going a bit slower than normal. Glancing up at his face, she finds him staring down at her with intense look in his icy eyes. "Who cares?" She frowns. "She left you. She sucks."

Finishing with the last button she takes a small, very small step back to gaze up at him. "All done." Damon steps forward causing her to take a surprised step back. "Are you going to the grill tonight?"

"I might stop by." She mutters her back hitting the mirror and the cold glass against her heated body sends a shiver through her as Damon steps up in front of her, almost pressing himself against her. "You should." Her lips part as she looks up at him. "Do you want me there?" Damon's tongue sneaks out to lick his bottom lip and Adele swallows thickly. "Yes." She nods slowly, just as slowly as Damon who is moving closer, his hand reaches up to push a piece of blonde hair out of her eyes. "Then I'll be there."

"Are you guys…" Stefan's voice trails off as he spots the two when he enters the room with Elena by his side. Elena's eyes widen as she notices the two standing almost pressed against each other. Adele passes her glass to Damon before pushing past him and muttering something about seeing him later before leaving the room in a hurry, leaving Damon, Stefan and Elena to stare after her.

~x~

By the time she made it to the grill the auction was already started and Carol was up on stage interviewing the bachelors. Adele greeted those she felt she needed to before finding a table in every back. Damon catches her eye and sends her a sly smirk which she returns.

Carol is reaching Damon by the time the drink she ordered arrives and she listens closely as Damon explains that he likes to travel. That he had once gone down to the Duke campus where Alaric and his Wife went to school, and Adele faintly remembers Elena telling her that Alaric's Isobel was there birthmother as she listens to Damon tell Alaric that he had had a drink with her while there and that she was very delicious and Adele leans back in her sit, staring up at Damon in astonishment.

She sits there, till the auction is mostly over, when Carol begins to call the winners of the bachelors she finally decided to move, she couldn't remember the last time she had such a confusing day but she wasn't enjoying it, she was tired and she didn't feel like dealing with it anymore. While walking towards the entrance she over hears a conversion she realizes she shouldn't have.

"This thing you're doing it's fake, just like you, just like your mom and for some reason Matt fell for it but that doesn't mean that I will. I don't like you. Okay?" Adele snorts as walks up behind Caroline. Kelly Donavon was Matt's mother, a woman who couldn't even stay long enough to see what an amazing son she has. Adele never liked Kelly and Kelly never liked her.

"And most of Mystic Falls doesn't like you because we know you for what you really are. An alcoholic whore who can't even take care of her own kids and taking one look at you explains exactly why Vickie was so messed up were all just glad Matt has some scenes. We'll make sure to tell the plumber that you're at the bar, because we all know that's exactly where you're going to be."

Kelly gives the young girl a glare before stomping off and Adele rolls her eyes watching after her before looking down at Caroline who was staring up at her. "She's a bitch Caroline. Don't listen to her." Caroline nods. "Thank you." Adele sends her a bright smile. "What are best friends for? I'll call you some time tomorrow. I have something I need to talk to you about." Caroline shrugs. "Like what?"

"Bruce…" Caroline's eyes widen. "Bruce as in Bruce Wilson?" Adele nods. "Oh my god, what happened?" Adele smiles once more. "I'll tell you tomorrow. I really don't feel like getting into it right now." Caroline lets out an over dramatic sigh. "Fine, but do not talk to Tyler about it first. I hate when you do that."

"I won't I promise." Adele gives her a small wave as she makes her way towards the bathrooms. She freezes when she spots Elena and Damon and she's just far enough away that they don't notice her but she can hear everything they are saying.

"Did you enjoy that? Rubbing it into Alaric Saltzman?" She can tell by the way he doesn't answer her right away that what Elena was going on about was truly confusing him. "What?

"Just as I was starting to think there was something redeemable about you."

"Elena." It was Stefan to the rescue once again and he didn't fail to notice her standing there as he sends a wry glance her way. "Am I missing something here?" Damon asks as he looks between his younger brother and his younger brother's girlfriend.

"Did I forget to mention early about my birthmother? The one that gave me up…" Damon turns back to Elena. "Her name was Isobel." Damon's shoulders tense. "Go ahead reminisce about how you killed her." Elena pushes past him causing him to look back at Stefan who glances to the side. Damon than catches sight of her standing off to the side staring at him and he sighs before making his way over.

"I didn't know." She gazes up at him and it takes him a moment of staring at her to realize that she looks so tired that she could curl up on the floor right now and pass out. "That the Isobel you killed was the woman who gave birth to me?" She shrugs a shoulder. "It's okay. I didn't know either until recently."

"I'm sorry Adele." She shakes her sending him a small smile. "You shouldn't be sorry. You didn't kill my mom Damon; she died in a car accident. You just killed the woman who gave birth to me, a woman I didn't even know and really had no desire to know."

"How long has it been since you've gotten any sleep?" Once again she shrugs. "A couple days. I can't sleep, to many nightmares." She mutters turning her gaze away from him. "Come on. I'll take you home."

"No…Damon. I don't want to go home. Not yet." He shakes his head. She had to get some sleep. This wasn't healthy for her. "Then let's go to my house. You can stay there. We'll stop by your house pick up some things you'll need and you'll come stay with me. You can get some sleep." Sleep sounds nice, really nice actually and Adele sighs nodding her head. "Okay."

"There's something I should tell you about Isobel anyways." She lets him take a hold of her hand leading her out of the grill. "She's not really dead is she?" She mutters causing Damon to glance back her and sigh.

~x~

After picking up her stuff and arriving at the Boarding house Damon led her to his bathroom letting her take a shower while he made her a cup of tea and she can't help but think he was being so sweet and she had never truly seen Damon so sweet before but she liked it, she could get used to it but then again she liked the other side of Damon as well. The one that was mean and sarcastic because it gave her someone she could actually relate to.

After her shower and drinking down the cup of tea she curled up into Damon's bed, letting herself relax for the first time in days. There were no transparent people watching her, no confusing feelings, no thoughts of how crazy she was, there was just the way the her small form sunk into the mattress, how warm the blankets were and the smell of Damon.

"I'm assuming you'll take care of this?" Damon mentions down to the body of Alaric Saltzman who he had just killed because the history teacher had the bright idea to try and attack him after he had finally revealed to the teacher that he did in fact turn Isobel because she had found him and bugged him to which made him start wondering. If Elena is related to Isobel, which would mean Isobel is related to Katherine as well which could mean Katherine had sent Isobel to find him.

Standing up he points a finger up to the ceiling. "Can you be quite about it as well? Adele is sleeping." Stefan looks up at his older brother. "Adele is here?" Damon simply nods and leaves the room retreating back up to the blonde who was fast asleep in his bed.

Stripping off his shirt he crawls up into the bed beside her and watches as her eyes slowly open to look at him. "What was with the noise?" Her voice is soft, laced with sleep. He reaches up pushing a piece of blonde hair out of her face, the way he had done earlier. "Nothing, just a misfortunate turn of events, go back to sleep." She nods sighing as she closes her eyes once again and he watches as she falls slowly back asleep and man she really is beautiful, there's something about her that makes her seem even more beautiful to him than Katherine could have ever been.


	12. Chapter 12

**I really do hate how long it takes to update this story, so many things happen at once around here it's starting to become insane. This is also a very long chapter which I kept getting stuck in. I hope you all like it. I worked hard on it. ^^**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Adele and Bruce. There are more OC's to come of course and I will also own them. xD**

**I'm thinking about four reviews for the next update, more would also be nice. **

**Thank you to all who have reviewed already. Thank you to all those who are supporting this story and all those who will start to support this story. I couldn't do it without you. (:**

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><p><strong>Chapter 12: There Goes the Neighborhood.<strong>

She was half awake, and being half awake gave her the ability to realize that the bed she was lying in was just a little too comfortable to be her own bed and she was sleeping a little too good to be in her own room. Cracking an eye open she realizes she not in her own bedroom and the realization causes her to sit up quickly which in return makes the vampire standing by the closet laugh.

She sighs laying back down. "I remember falling asleep in my own bed last night Damon." The vampire turns his head to look at her. "Well I went to check on you and you were having nightmares and I figured you wouldn't be getting much sleep…" Trailing off he shrugs on a shirt leaving it unbuttoned as he turns back to look at her. "You have to stop kidnapping me from my bedroom." Adele starches out on the bed, falling deeper into the pillows and burying herself further into the blankets.

"You sound convincing but you don't look convincing. If that makes sense." Adele sends him a lazy smile. "Your bed is so comfortable. How am I supposed to look convincing when all I want to do is go back to sleep?"

"Go back to sleep. I'll wake you up later in the day." She shakes her head. "No…no. I have school." Climbing out of the bed, she shuffles across the floor over to Damon's dresser where she opens the first drawer on the left. Picking out a bra and panties sitting directly on the top of the pile of t-shirts she closes the drawer making her way over to the closet and pulling out her jeans and a t-shirt. Damon is watching her as she does all this.

As Adele leaves the room to grab a towel from the hall closet Damon can't help but smirk. "I think I'm staying over a little too much." Adele observes as she returns. "Why do you say that?"

"Besides the fact that I know this house like it was my own, I have my own space in your closet and I'm sharing your dresser with you." Damon shrugs. "I don't mind so there is no problem what so ever."

"I have to take a shower and get to school."

"What are you planning after high school? Are you going to go to college?" The question is random; Damon doesn't even know where it came from in all honesty. Adele turns to Damon tilting her head to the side. "I have scholarships to college, so obviously the option is available; weather I'm going to go is undecided. Am I going to stay in Mystic Falls after graduation? Most likely not."

"Where are you planning on going?" She frowns, her nose scrunches up and she starts biting at the side of her bottom lip, which attracts Damon's icy eyes and he can't help but stare at her as she chews softly on her lip. Damon swears he's seen her do it before but it wasn't till now that he fully noticed.

"I'm not sure. Anywhere I guess, I'm sure though that I'm not staying here. There's nothing here for me, besides my friends and family I can always come back and visit and call, besides them I have no reason to stay. Elena will stay because she's the kind girl that wants a family and all that nice stuff. I don't think I want that." Shrugging a shoulder she sends him a small smile before walking into the bathroom.

~x~

"Thanks for the ride." She mutters softly as she turns to gaze at him. He had refused to drive her home so she could get her mustang, telling her that he was going to drive her to school instead, giving them more of a chance to talk about her feature plans before she had to leave.

"You do know you have to pick me up right?" Smirking he nods. "Of course Kitten." Rolling her eyes she swings open the door to his Camaro and sends a couple of glares in the direction of a group of staring girls. "You set yourself up for it."

"Exactly." His smug tone makes her stop in gathering her backpack from the floor board and look up at him. "So this was intentional? Why?" His eyes widen slightly and he turns to her. "Because." She raises an eyebrow waiting patiently for him to elaborate but sighs when it becomes clear he wasn't going to. "I'll see you after school Damon." His smirk is back. "I'll be here."

Once she's out of sight he frowns. He had no intention of driving her to school when he woke up this morning but once she made it clear that she was leaving he had found it almost impossible to let her go without wanting to follow her, so he stalled her telling her that he would drive her to school, that it was on the way to something he needed to take care because it gave her an extra thirty minutes to stay and he was able to pick her up knowing that it would only be a about 6 if not 7 hours before he saw her again. Why did he want to see her so much? It was strange. He found the whole thing very strange in deed. He never had such a desire to see anyone before, not since Katherine that is but his desire to see Adele might have been just a bit more intense than that which scared him.

~x~

The first half of classes went by fairly quickly. Adele found herself zoning more than once which was okay seeing as she knew all the material in her classes anyways. It was a wonder what honors classes could do for a person along with her need to learn more than required. Her thoughts traveled over the events of the last few days. It had been pretty quiet around Mystic Falls since that night at the grill. Besides her kiss with Bruce and Damon's urges to kidnap her every night that were making her head fuzzy, she was clam. A little to calm for her own liking.

Once lunch rolled around, a persistent buzzing in her pocket snapped her back into reality and she sighs, part of her would like to be a loner going into this lunch today. Her phone doesn't quit though. It buzzes and buzzes hard, causing it to rise in her back pocket and she has to catch it before it falls to the ground.

Sighing she glances down and a slow lazy grin forms onto her beautiful face. "Hey Bruce." She mutters as she picks up an apple from the lunch line. "We should have lunch. We need to talk." Placing the apple on the counter next to the register, Adele fishes out a dollar from her pocket handing it to the older lady. "Sounds good. Pick me up?"

"Of course, I'll be there in 5." Hanging up the phone Adele takes a bite of her apple as she scans the lunch room. Once she finds who she's looking for, she makes her way over and those in her way quickly move to the side. "Angela." The small redheaded fair skinned girl straightens her back and spins on her heels at the sound of her name, and not just the sound of her name coming from just anybody but coming from Adele Gilbert, a girl the young advanced placement student looked up to greatly along with a few of her friends who leaned forward to ease drop on the conversion about to take place. "H-hi Adele."

Adele gives the small 11th grader a reassuring smile. "I need a favor." The girl nods rather quickly her red curls bouncing. "Can you explain to Mrs. Allen that I'm not feeling well and we'll be a little late to class today?" Angela nods her brow furrowing as she tilts her head slightly to look up at the taller girl. "Are you okay?" Adele gives her a sly, somewhat secret smirk glancing at the other three faces watching them. "I have to go speak with a friend of mine; I'm not sure how long it'll take."

Angela smiles a soft smile up at her. "Oh okay. Consider the favor done. See you in class when you get back." Adele nods to the other girls before smirking once more in Angela's direction. "Thanks a million Angela." And she turns making her way from the lunch room, feeling her sisters gaze on her all the while.

By the time she's outside, Bruce is there waiting in his 2007 Ford F150 that he had gotten as a graduation present from his father. Adele climbs up into the truck carefully and turns to give Bruce a small smile, and is surprised as he grips the back of her neck softly pulling her towards him and pressing his lips to hers in a gentle warming kiss.

Pulling back she sucks in a breath as she opens her blue eyes to gaze up at his handsome face. "Sorry." He sends her a lopsided grin. "Couldn't help it." She sends him a grin back. "So lunch?"

~x~

He takes her to a small sandwich shop down by where they work that they have talked about going to since the day she started working with him. It wasn't much, a privately owned shop with a Philadelphia styled theme and after placing their orders at the counter, they quickly find a seat towards the far back.

There silent for a few minutes as Adele messes around with her straw, glancing up she smiles slightly as her blue eyes meet Bruce's green eyes, and stops twirling her straw. "Okay, I'll say something first." She lets out a soft laugh. "Please do." She mutters leaning against her hand.

"I was really nervous about calling you today." Adele's eyes widen slightly as she looks up at him. "Why?" She mutters softly, placing her elbow on the table and placing her chin in her hand. "I don't know. I guess I was afraid you would turn me down or something." A smile laces her lips as she watches him shift uncomfortable in his seat. "Well I didn't." She mutters once more and he swallow thickly finally meeting her blue gaze.

"I'm not exactly sure what happened Saturday. I didn't even realize I could see you as more than a friend till then." Adele bites the inside of her cheek, thinking about her response. "Neither did I. I like you Bruce, but weather I like you more than a friend I'm still debating. I can see you as more than a friend and then again I can't. It's all really confusing."

"Exactly, I feel the exact same way. I just broke up with Sarah, I'm not sure I'm ready to jump into anything right now." Adele nods. "I'm willing to try though, that is if you are." She regards him carefully, running her tongue across the back of her teeth. Was she willing to try? There would be no harm in trying, would there be? Of course not, it's not like she had anyone else she was into…right?

"Yeah, of course we can try."

~x~

Distracted. She's distracted for the most part of her classes once she's returned safely to the school. Bruce had offered her a ride home after figuring out she didn't have her mustang, but she had told him she had it all under control. She could have let Bruce pick her up after school, but Damon already said he was picking her up and make it completely obvious that it was his plan from the beginning plus…she wants to see him. The minute she stepped out of the Camaro and into the halls of the school she had the urge to run back to him.

While every part of her felt numb most of the time, aside from the occasional feelings of anger which has occurred quite a bit lately, –every once in a while she'll feel a ping of desire which is what she feels when with Bruce– when around Damon every part of her seems to come to life. He makes her feel. He's the only person who makes her feel, weather he makes her annoyed or completely giddy with happiness he still makes her feel and she likes it. Strangely enough, she likes it.

She was actually quite surprised, today had been a rather good day. She got some sleep thanks to waking up in Damon's bed of course, got to school in one piece and without drama, had lunch and agreed to try a relationship with Bruce, successfully avoided Elena, and now Damon was sitting outside waiting for her. She could see his blue Camaro through the class room's wall of windows thanks to the class being one of the first when you walk into the school.

The girl behind her -Adele thinks her name is Brandy– leans forward invading her personal space and Adele has to resist the urge to cringe away. "Who is that? I've seen him a couple times around here." Adele doesn't glance at the girl; her eyes are fixed only on the Camaro. "Damon Salvatore, Stefan's older brother." She mutters quietly. "So he's here to pick up Stefan?" Finally Adele tares her eyes away to glance at the girl. "Not exactly."

"If he's not here to pick up Stefan who is he here for?" Adele raises an eyebrow. "Why the sudden interest in the people outside?" Brandy shrugs a shoulder. "He's cute. Like really cute." Adele nods slowly turning back to look at him. "Yes he is, but he's already waiting for one person, he doesn't need to wait for someone else." There's a back off tone in Adele's quiet voice that makes Brandy sit back in her seat frowning and Adele sighs in relief.

~x~

Adele gives Brandy a sly smirk as she climbs into the passenger side of the Camaro causing the girl to roll her eyes and turn away. "How was your day?" Turning she gazes at Damon who pulls away from the school. "It was good, quiet, kind of boring. I'm sure you had a much more proactive day." Damon sends her a sideways glance. "Or not? What happened?"

"I got my eyes gouged out by Pearl, Anna's mother." Adele doesn't say anything at first, just stares at the beautiful vampire next to her. "You mean the one who used my blood to come back from starvation?" Damon's brows furrow as he presses his lips together in a tight line. "What?"

"Oh I'm sorry. You didn't know about that did you? Because you left me in a dark tomb full of starving vampires plus one vengeful vampire out for Gilbert blood, thanks for _that_ by the way." Damon sighs as he pulls to a stop at a red light. "I really don't want to fight with you right now Kitten, the day hasn't treated me well. I should have never let you leave my room this morning." He mutters and Adele sighs reaching over and pulling his chin so he looks at her. She studies his face. "Well, you look fine. No permanent damage, your eyes are still as pretty as ever and I'm sure locking me in your room wouldn't have changed anything, I would have just had to witness the scene and personally I'm glad I didn't."

Taking a deep breath Damon relaxed slightly. "I'm sorry for leaving you alone in the tomb." Raising an eyebrow Adele lets go of his chin, settling back into her seat. "Obviously I wasn't too mad about it Damon, I still went back for your ass." She mutters crossing her arms and Damon can't help but smirk as the light turns green and he speeds forward.

"So what are we doing tonight?" Adele smirks slightly shaking her head. "_We're _not doing anything." Damon frowns. "I have to work Damon." Cursing Damon takes the next right so he's heading back towards the Gilbert house. "I totally forgot you work now."

"Thanks to you." He grunts causing her to laugh as they pull onto her street.

~x~

By the time she was done with work and was finally home it was close to 9 and she was tired. She could crawl into bed and fall asleep but, she has homework and she's kind of hungry, plus her room is pretty messy she figures she might as well clean it up and she needs a shower, she figures she can take one after a jog around the neighborhood because she couldn't jog in the morning. Looking at her bed, she shakes her head.

Who is she kidding? She just doesn't want to go to bed…not when she knows the minute she falls asleep the nightmares will come back. She thinks that maybe she should call Damon, see what he's doing but if anything he was probably drunk and she's not sure she's in the mood to deal with that right now, she could call Bruce but he was still working so there wouldn't be much he could do for her, there was also Caroline but she remembers briefly that Caroline was talking to her about a double date or whatever with her sister tonight. So who could she call? How about the one guy she had barely seen since returning to Mystic Falls?

Pulling out her cell phone, she strolls through her contacts quickly. "What's up?" She smiles slightly to herself. "Hey Ty."

**Let the Right One in**

She had just realized how hungry she was when Damon barged into her room the next morning and she can't help but stare at him for a moment. "What if I hadn't been dressed?" Adele shakes her head at him as he smirks his one of a kind Damon smirk at her. "Don't answer that." She mutters turning away from him to collect her wet towel from her bed. "What are you doing here?"

"Stefan and I were attacked last night." Adele freezes, but makes a point to keep her back to him. It would do her no good for him to see the panic that had rushed through her veins reflected in her features. "Are you okay?"

"Hello? This is me were talking about." She nods finally turning to look at him. "Oh yes you act so normal sometimes I forget you're not a real person." Damon's eyes narrow in on her. "Very funny."

"Who said I was joking?

"I'm not subjecting myself to your little games. I need you to come with me." Adele's brows furrow as she looks up at him, blinking. "Why?" He sighs running a hand through his hair. "We need to come up with a plan of revenge."

"A plan of revenge? Oh Damon." She sighs softly shaking her head and making her way over to her Closet where she disappears though the cracked door. He frowns at the closet door before gazing around the room. He had been in there before, there was nothing new…he just never noticed she had pictures of herself and pictures of others stuck to her mirror and one in particular stuck out to him calling him over to the mirror for a closer look.

It wasn't anything special, she didn't look much younger than she did now, and he suspected that the picture was taken in the summer maybe a year ago. She was sitting on her mustang, in a short white sundress barefooted, hugging her knees close to her chest with her chin rested between them, her hair was tousled and pushed to the side, the sun glaring down making it shine a golden blonde, and she was smiling a small, very small smile and her eyes glowed with what? Love? He swallowed. The emotion made her blue eyes sparkle in a way he had never seen before. She was beautiful, with no makeup, messy hair, a bare sundress and no jewelry. Her beauty looked so pure.

He was tempted to snatch the picture and stuff it in his pocket but before he could the closet door opened and Adele reappeared in a pair of jean shorts and a sweatshirt that was rising up her sides as she walked and a pair of socks. She grabbed her boots from beside her bed and slipped them on before walking over to the mirror next to him and picking up a necklace clasping it around her neck and pulling her long blonde hair into a high pony tail. Turning on her heels she smiled softly at him. "Just let me put on…"

"Don't put on makeup." He whispers cutting her off. Surprised by this, Adele's eyes widen. "Why not?" She mutters and he steps forward taking in her make up free face. He never noticed before that she had a patch of lightly colored freckles that ran over her nose. She blinks, her long eye lashes fluttering against her cheek each time she does as he slowly reaches up to run a finger over the small freckles the lined the right side of her nose and some of her cheek bone. "Because you don't need it."

Inhaling sharply, her eyes flutter close for a brief moment. "Okay." She whispers and he smiles softly before dropping his hand and stepping back. She turns away from him stumbling over to her nightstand to grab her phone. "I'll be right back." She mutters racing into the bathroom.

Once in there she takes a deep breath looking up into the mirror. Her cheeks have a pink tint to them and she bites her lip, her brows furrowing. It wasn't the first time someone had told her she didn't need makeup but it was the first time it truly affected her. She always wore makeup; she didn't feel comfortable without it. She felt like people could see straight through her and it made her –though she doesn't like to attempt it– self-conscious.

Shaking her head, she quickly brushes her teeth and fixes her hair. Taking one last glance at her make up free face before quickly leaving the bathroom smiling slightly at Damon who's watching every little move she makes. "Okay. Let's go."

~x~

She's sitting on the arm of the brown leather arm chair, her boots discarded on the floor next to her, she watches Damon bored up the broken window. "I say we go to Pearls, bust down the doors and annihilate the idiot who attacked us last night." He glances between the three of them in the room as he twirls the hammer in his hand.

"Yeah and then what? We turn to the rest of the house of vampires and say opps?" Adele laughs softly as she gazes down at her phone sending a text back to Tyler who she had a nice time hanging out with last night. She missed her best friend; she never truly realized how much she missed him.

"I can't believe you made a deal with her." Elena's tone sounds like she disapproves greatly which in return makes Adele roll her eyes. "It's not like he had much of a choice." She mutters but stays otherwise quiet. Damon smirks as he turns to Elena, being as only the two vampires in the room could have heard her. "It was more like a helpful exchange of information and like Adele just so kindly mentioned. It's not like I had a choice, she's…scary. Besides she's going to help me get Katherine back."

Adele frowns down at her phone. He didn't tell her about _that_ part of the deal. Suddenly her mood of being pretty content with the world around her shifts and she's left with that numb feeling followed by a sudden surge of anger.

"Of course she is Damon gets what he wants no matter who he hurts in the process." The three of them had seemed to forget she was there and she wonders if maybe she can sneak out without being caught. Surely she could walk home, she would gladly get soaking wet and possibly struck by lightning then have to sit here and listen to them talk about Katherine. "No need to get snarky."

Adele sighs as Damon turns away from Elena to look at her. _So much for sneaking away._ "I woke up this morning to learn that all the vampires have been released from the tomb…" Damon lifts up Adele's legs from the seat of the chair before sitting down and placing them back down in his lap. "I've earned snarky." Elena continues and Adele once again rolls her eyes because honestly if it was that big of a deal for Elena then why doesn't she just butt out.

"How long are you going to blame me for turning your birth mother into a vampire?"

"I'm not blaming you Damon; I've accepted the fact that you're a self-serving psycho path with no redeeming qualities." Adele fixes her cold blue eyes on Elena. "Cut the damn attitude Elena, it doesn't suit you. Also stop being so fucking dramatic, okay the tomb vampires are free we get it, now it's time to move on and figure out what we do about it. You're being pretty pathetic right now and you're getting on my _last_ nerve and _stop picking on Damon_."

Damon turns his laugh into a snort. "Ouch." He mutters pressing his lips together and Elena's shocked expression turns to a glare directed at the both of them. Stefan steps forward placing his hand on the small of Elena's back. "This isn't being productive. We're going to figure out a way to deal with Pearl and the other vampires yeah?" His question is directed at Damon and Adele rolls her head back staring at the ceiling as Damon places his hand on her calf.

"I'm done here." She mutters. "Damon take me home." She demands standing up from the arm of the chair and slipping her feet into her boots before storming out the room and waiting for Damon by the door. Damon stands following behind her rather quickly. Stefan and Elena watch them as Damon holds the door open and opens an umbrella handing it to her. "I'm hungry." Stefan hears her say as she's walking out. "We'll stop by the grill and get something to eat." Is his brother's response and Stefan's brows furrow as he watches the door close behind them not being able to get the way his brother followed the girl from the room like a puppy out of his mind.

~x~

There's a knock at the front door and Adele sighs standing from the bed. Whatever was down there was probably more interesting than what was in her room. She had made plans with Bruce to go see a movie later that night but that wasn't till later that night and she wasn't living in the future she was living in the here and now and in the here and now she was bored. She turns on her phone as she descends the stares having turned it off to try and get some sleep.

"I figure he was here with you." Frowning she stops at the middle of the staircase. "What's going on?" She asks clearly and Damon's head snaps up to look at her. "Why wouldn't you answer your phone?" He snaps and she's half shocked at the anger radiating off his tense form. "I turned it off. How many times did you call?" Coming to the end of the stairs she looks up at him.

"No less than 10 times. Do me a favor and don't turn your phone off." Elena glances between the two of them. "Wait…you called her first?" Damon sends her a long glance. "Yes."

"What is going on?" Adele speaks up before Elena can turn this into something about her. "Stefan went hunting, hours ago; he's not answering his phone." Frowning Adele glances down at her phone. Sure enough there was 11 missed calls and 5 text message but she ignores those going to her contacts and punching in Stefan's name. Hitting the call button she listens to the phone ring once before going to voicemail.

"It's going straight to voicemail." She mutters once again frowning at her phone. Elena looks between them. "Where could he be?" Damon gives them both a long intense stare. "You're not going to like what I'm thinking."

Adele sighs once more pulling up her contacts. "I'll cancel on Bruce." She mutters and Damon frowns down at her. "Who's Bruce?" Adele shakes her head searching the boy's name. "No seriously who's Bruce?"

"Damon, we have to worry about Stefan right now. Where do you think he is?" Damon nods slowly at her. "You're going to tell me who Bruce is." He mutters grabbing her arm and dragging her towards the door. "I am very capable of getting to the door by myself, thank you very much." She snaps pulling her arm free.

~x~

"Bruce I'm still sorry. I really did want to hang out with you tonight." Adele hadn't actually gotten up the nerve to call and cancel on Bruce until Damon was safely out of the car and on his way up to the house the tomb vampires were staying and yes it did have everything to do with her not wanting to have to explain to him who Bruce was though it shouldn't matter so much.

"You don't have to be sorry Adele." He cuts off in a laugh. "Seriously, I get it. Stuff happens. I just hope whoever it is that this family emergency is about is okay." Adele sighs softly looking out the window towards the direction in which Damon disappeared. "So do I Bruce." She mutters before glancing at Elena's worried face. "I have to go Bruce. I'll call you later."

"Looking forward to it." And she hangs up turning to her sister who looks back at her. "What if something horrible happened to him?" She chokes and Adele shakes her head her pony tail swiping against her shoulders. "You can't think like that."

"But…" Adele clicks her tongue causing the darker haired sister to cut off. "You _can't_ think like that, seriously Elena. For the sake of Stefan and your sanity you can't think like that." Turning once again to look out the window, her eyes widen. "Damon." She mutters swinging the door open and darting towards the dark figure.

"What happened? Where is he?" Adele shouts above the noise of the rain as she reaches him, Elena just a few feet away having stopped to fumble around with her umbrella. "They have him, but I couldn't get in." Adele lets out a breath of air. "Why not?" Elena demands from behind her and Adele turns to gaze at her. "Because the woman of the house is compelled to not let me in."

All hope of getting Stefan out drains from Elena's eyes and Adele's mind is running and running hard. "I can get in." She mutters turning back to look up at Damon who is staring unblinking at her. "No." He whispers as if it was the stupidest idea he had ever heard. "Yes, Damon I can."

"I know you can, but you're not going to." She huffs. "Stefan was willing to run into a tomb that he knew he couldn't get out of for me, I'm willing to run into a house full of vampires for him." Damon reaches out gripping her shoulders. "But I'm not willing to let you."

"Why are they doing this? What do they want?" Damon glances towards Elena briefly. "Revenge, they want revenge."

"We have to do something." Adele mutters as she stares up at him with huge blue eyes. He nods. "I know." Reaching up Adele grabs his hands which are still resting on her shoulders. "We have to get him out of there…"

"I know." Adele shakes her head. "We have to help him." She mutters and Damon reaches up breaking her hold on him as he places his hands on the sides of her face. "Adele…I know." She nods. "But I don't know how to get him out." He lets go and looks back at Elena who is staring at the both of them, most diffidently on the verge of tears.

"Come on." Grabbing Adele by the arm he drags her forward and she groans. "What is with you and grabbing my arm today?"

~x~

He had brought them to the high school, why and for what? Adele wasn't sure but she followed the two of them in anyways. "Damon, what are we doing here?" She whispers as she jogs ahead of Elena, catching up to him. "Seeking a little help." He mutters and she skids to a stop as he whirls around to face them. "I want you both to stay here. Right here. Do not move from this spot."

"Why? What are you doing?" He gazes down at her. "I mean it Adele. Do. Not. Move." And she sighs nodding. "Okay. Fine. Have it your way." She huffs crossing her arms and leaning against the wall, pouting slightly and Damon shakes his head turning to Elena. "Stay here." He doesn't give her a chance to say anything before he's turning the corner leaving them both to stare after him.

"Well don't you look…Alive." Adele frowns looking over at her sister. "Who is he talking to?" She mutters and Elena walks forward placing her finger to her lips. "You can't hurt me." The guy sounds familiar but Adele can't place him. "Oh I can hurt you alright." Elena steps around the corner to Adele's surprise. "What are you doing? What happen to staying here?" She whispers harshly before sighing. She follows her sister out and she's only partly shocked to see that voice belonged to Alaric Saltzman. It was no wonder it was so familiar.

Damon groans silently to himself as he hears the soft footsteps behind him, Elena was walking up behind him and he knew it was Elena because Adele had the abnormal ability to be _almost_ completely silent. "Mr. Saltzman. We need your help."

Alaric looks back at them, and his chest tightens because he can see it. He can see Isobel in them, in Elena's looks with the chocolate brown hair and the chocolate eyes and Adele by the intensity and intelligence of her blue eyed stare. Adele's blonde hair and blue eyes makes him wonder who it could have been that his wife hooked up with so long ago and how a set of twins –even fraternal– can look absolutely _nothing_ alike. He figures it's because they remind him of Isobel that he agrees to hear them out.

~x~

She's leaning against a desk, Damon is leaning against the counter, and Elena is talking to Alaric explaining to him everything that was happening. "Stefan is in the house, Damon's a vampire. He can't get in. We need you." Adele shifts slightly, speaking up for the first time since walking into the class room. "I would go but…" She trails off shrugging a shoulder. "But your life is valuable." Adele turns her head, glaring at the arrogant vampire, Damon ignores her. "Yours on the other hand…"

"Stefan told me about your ring." Elena interjects before the two can begin arguing. Alaric looks back up at her. "What about it?" Damon scoffs.

"Let me recap. You tried to kill me, I defended myself, you died…and according to my brother your ring brought you back to life. Am I…am I leaving anything out?"

"Yeah, the part where I try to kill you again only this time I don't miss." And Adele moves, quite quickly putting herself between Damon and Alaric before a brawl can start in the middle of the class room. "Alright. Clam down." She mutters glancing between the two and Elena comes up beside her gazing up at Alaric with huge brown eyes. "Mr. Saltzman. Please. It's Stefan."

"I'm sorry. It's not my problem." Adele felt the sudden urge to slap the nice teacher, but turns away and fisted her hands at her sides closing her eyes and counting to 10, though it didn't do much. She still wanted to hit someone or something.

"That's a shame, because the woman in charge of the coward can help you find your wife." Opening her eyes, Adele's eyes meet Damon's as he pushes off the counter strolling over to Elena and her. "You're lying." Adele turns back to look up at Alaric now that she was positive she wasn't going to hit anybody. "Am I? Why don't you ask her yourself? Coward?" Turning to look between them Damon smirks. "Come on girls."

Adele was happy to walk from the room with her arms crossed across her chest Damon following closely behind her. Elena on the other hand was reluctant to leaving, thinking they had a better chance of convincing him if they stayed.

"Alright." Adele stops abruptly causing Damon to slam into her back which makes her stumble forward. He reaches out placing his hands on her waist to steady her before the two of them turn together to look back at the teacher. "I'll go."

~x~

Alaric rolls out his weapons onto his desk causing all three of them to lean forward gazing down at amount of weapons the teachers collected. A slow satisfied smirk laces Damon's lips. "Teacher by day, vampire hunter by night." And Adele rolls her eyes to feign annoyance at him. "I have you to thank for that." Elena speaks up, pointing to one of the weapons on the desk trying to direct the conversion away from her vampire mother. "What are those?" Alaric turns his gaze down to them. "Tranquilizer darts. There filled with vervain."

"Just get me in and I'll get Stefan out?" Adele's turns her wide blue eyes from the Tranquilizer darts to Damon. "That's your plan?" Elena asks before Adele has the chance to open her mouth. "You're just going to take them all on yourself?"

A slow smirk forms on Adele's pouty lips. "Suicide mission? I think so." Damon sends her a look that tells her to shut up and her smirk grows. "Well it'll be a little stealthier then that, hopefully." Shaking her head Adele picks up one of the darts. "Whoa. What are you doing?" Looking back up, Adele blinks at Damon in confusion as if his question didn't make sense. "We're going with you." Elena answers for her causing Damon to shake his head. "No. No no no, no way."

Adele looks up from studying the dart in her hand. "You need us. We'll get in, you can distract them, and we'll get Stefan out."

"You'll get yourselves killed; you're not going in there."

"Damon you dragged me into this! You're not going to push me back." Damon ignores her, turning his attention to Alaric. "Now when you get me in get out as fast as you can, I know how to sneak around to where they can't hear me. You'll basically just be in the way." Adele throws her hands in the air turning her back on them in a show of frustration. Elena takes a turn to try and reason with him. "Damon now is not the time to be the lone ranger."

Adele turns back to them as he turns to look at the both of them. "Fine, you girls can be in charge of the getaway car. You're not going in there." Adele takes a stand in front of him, placing her hands on her hips as Elena looks at Damon over her shoulder. "You can't stop me. This is Stefan we're talking about here."

Adele nods. "I'm not letting you go in there alone. I'm coming with you." Damon's gaze lands on her and sticks, leaving the two to stare at each other for a long intense moment with neither of them willing to back down and Damon curses when it becomes clear that Adele has no intentions of giving up and he wishes that for once in her life she wasn't so damn stubborn. "I can't protect you. I don't know now how many vampires there are." He reaches up, snapping his fingers in front of her face. "That's how long it'll take for you to get your head ripped off."

Remembering that Elena was standing directly behind Adele focuses his attention on the both of them. "I have to be able to get in and out. I can't be distracted with your safety or this well will end up blood bath none of us walk away from, including Stefan."

"If we're going to go, let's go." Alaric mutters starting to pack up his weapons and Damon nods slowly. Adele was mad, no she was pissed. She didn't want Damon going into a house full of revenge thirsty vampires alone, he could get hurt or killed and she doesn't want him hurt or dead. She frowns. No she doesn't want that but he's so determent to get himself killed and it's frustrating.

She shoves past him wanting to put as much space between them as possible while Elena and Alaric are already out of the room. Damon reaches out, catching her arm and pulling her back slamming her back against his side. "Don't be mad at me for wanting to keep you safe. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something happen to you." His voice is barely a whisper and Adele takes a deep steadying breath. "I'm not mad at you, I'm frustrated with you Damon, and I'm going to be frustrated with you so get over it." She snaps pulling her arm away and stomping from the room.

~x~

While Elena chose to busy herself with going through Alaric's bag, Adele couldn't stop thinking about how stupid Damon was being. He was being stupid and frustrating. Adele huffs silently pulling her gun from the waist band of her shorts ignoring the horrified look Elena sends her way. Checking the amount of bullets left she sighs making a mental note to reload when she gets home.

Placing the gun back in its place she looks up, out the window towards the direction of the house. What if he was hurt? Alaric could be dead and Damon could be in the same position Stefan is in. Elena doesn't seem to care much about Damon's safety, where Elena was concerned at the moment Damon didn't have to make it out alive as long as he got Stefan out in the long run, but the thought of Damon being killed in his attempted to be the –as Elena put it earlier– Lone Ranger, it make her physical sick to think about and she wasn't about to let him get killed.

Reaching over Elena, Adele turns the keys, killing the engine and pulling them out. Elena gives her a looks of surprise. "What are you doing?" Adele shakes her head swinging the door open. "I'm going after him." She mutters. "You can either stay here or come with. I don't care." And she slams the door, not waiting or wanting a response.

It takes a moment and she's a good ways away from the car but the door finally opens before being slammed shut once more. Slowing down Adele gives Elena a chance to catch up. "What's the plan?" Adele sends her a sister a look of confusion. "There is no plan. We're gonna wing it." And Adele takes off in a jog down the path towards the house while Elena hesitates behind her. "Adele…! I don't think that is such a good idea!"

~x~

Adele presses her back against the brick wall at the back of the house and watches her sister hop over the short patio wall quite skillfully. Once Elena was next to her Adele scoops the place out, looking for an entrance to the house that wouldn't give them away and get them killed. Turning back to Elena, Adele places her finger to her lips before pointing to her ear and Elena nods telling her she understands.

"There is a gate that leads to the basement…over there." Adele mouths and Elena turns her gaze from Adele to look for this gate and when she spots it she nods looking back at her sister. "On three. 1…2…3." Adele makes a run for the gate, staying low so she wouldn't be visible through the window. She's satisfied to see that Elena was right behind her and also staying low.

Once through the gate Adele straightens up and right away she's met with a door that would led them under the house which Adele could guess is where there keeping Stefan so there was most likely going to be no reason they have to sneak upstairs at least until they've got Stefan out, then and only then when she's sure Elena and Stefan are gone will she go back for Damon and she will go back for him, no matter what Elena does to try and stop her.

The door though is locked and Adele curses looking back at Elena who standing behind her staring at the locked door. Turning back to the door Adele sighs, before shoving her elbow into the glass watching it break before reaching in and unlocking the door from the inside.

The two move silently down the hall, pausing at a corner Adele leans forward before snapping back and turning to Elena. "Vampire…right there." She mouths and Elena's eyes widen slightly. "Get your dart ready." Adele turns away from her, pulling her gun back out. Leaning forward again, Adele watches the vampire pull the ear plugs from an iPod out of his ears before standing up and Adele leans back quickly causing Elena to gasps lightly and Adele closes her eyes. There was no doubt in her racing mind that the vampire heard her.

Adele can hear the footsteps from the vampire coming closer and Adele closes her eyes, her hold on the gun tightening. Her eyes open when she hears a soft thud, leaning forward she frowns at the sight of the vampire lying on the ground with a dart in his neck. It isn't till Damon steps out from the other corner that she understands what had happened, and man…he looks mad.

"Are you insane? Is Elena with you?" Elena steps around her and into Damon's line of vision causing him to curse. "We told you Damon…" Elena trails off glancing over to her sister. Adele takes a couple steps towards him. "You couldn't have expected anything less from me."

She's stops in front of him, Elena behind her. "What am I supposed to do if they catch you?" Shrugging Adele sends him a one sided smirk. We'll just have to see when that happens."

~x~

Adele pushes the door open letting Elena and Damon run in ahead of her before she follows them in, closing the door softly behind her. Turning she stops short at the sight of Stefan tied up from the roof, half conscious. "Elena…You shouldn't be here." She can hear him groan out.

"She was supposed to wait in the car with Adele." Damon makes his displeasure with her known by sending her a glare and she shakes her head at him. Damon turns away from her flipping the stake Adele never noticed he was holding and placing it above the other vampire in the room she also didn't notice. "No…not him." Stefan raspy voice stops Damon as he brings the stake up. Damon rolls his eyes but doesn't question as he stands up straight. "Whatever, let's get you down."

Adele is watching from the door, making sure no one was coming while Damon reaches up for the ropes. "There's vervain on the ropes." Stefan warns and Damon freezes. Bringing his hands down he glances at Elena. "Elena, pull that." Elena runs to him while Adele takes another look out to the hall. Elena pulls the rope and Stefan falls crashing into Damon who is able to keep steady holding his basically dead weight up. "We really need to hurry." Adele mummers more to herself than anyone else.

"Get some clothes on." Damon demands after helping Stefan stand up straight and while Elena help him with that Damon walks up to Adele. "I want you to take Stefan and Elena to the car. Don't come back." She looks up horrified. "No. Damon I'm not leaving you here."

"Yes you are. Kitten I need you to get out of here. I need you safe. I can handle this." She bites her lip frowning up at him. "Okay." She whispers and he takes a deep breath. "Kitten, don't ever defy me like this again. You could have gotten hurt or worse." It's a struggled whisper and she nods. "Get him to the car."

~x~

There half way through the woods, Adele is freezing only being in shorts and a thin sweatshirt. She's helping Elena carry Stefan to the car but even there combined strength couldn't make it that far without falling at least once and they do, when Stefan's foot catches on a root the three of them go sprawling onto the ground and Adele groans rolling over onto her back. Looking over she noticed Elena clenching her hand. "Are you okay?" Stefan voices before her and Elena nods. "We have to go." Adele mutters pushing herself up while dragging Stefan with her. "Come on." She groans under his weight.

They make it to the car, without tripping again and no more injuries. Adele lets Elena get in first before helping Stefan get in and climbing in after him slamming and locking the door. She's reaching for the car keys in her pocket when the window beside her is smashed and Elena's scream causes her to scream and she's feels the hands wrap around her throat before she's yanked through the broken window her legs getting cut from the parts of the window still intact at the bottom.

The vampire holding her sniffs the air and smirks down at her. "You smell delicious." He mutters and her eyes widen as she watches the veins under his eyes appear and she has no time to struggle before he's biting through the delicate flesh at her neck and she screams, everything turns to slow motion and the more she fights, the more blood the vampire takes from her the weaker she feels.

He pulls away but before she has the chance to do anything he puts almost all his strength into a throw that sends her flying through the air and she's thrown into a tree, a small, thin branch ripping through her shoulder and her head smacking back against the tree and she screams again as the branch breaks off with her weight and she crashes to the ground landing roughly on her side. Her hands shot out right away to grip the branch in her shoulder and she doesn't have the strength or the will to yank it out.

She wants to scream again but she can't find the breath. She's so tired. She stares ahead at the tree across from her wanting nothing more…wanting nothing more than Damon. Where is he? Is he okay? Surely he'll find her. He wouldn't forget about her. She chokes on his name. Ignoring the stick in her shoulder and the pain that it brings she feels as if she's cracked a few ribs with the impact she had hitting the tree and her head hurt, scratch that, everything hurt, with a deep painful breath she lets out his name in a choke. "Damon."

~x~

After escaping the house with Alaric once Pearl had made it home to see some of her vampires dead, Damon hurries ahead of Alaric very aware that Fredrick wasn't among the vampires he had killed which would mean he was still out there, most likely going after Stefan who he had sent to the car with Adele. _He sent Stefan to the car with Adele. _The thought and realization hits him like a damn bag of bricks and makes him run faster. _She better be okay. _

But he doesn't see her when he runs up. All he sees is Stefan and Elena staring at each other, Stefan looking guilty, Elena looking terrified. Looking down he spots the dead Fredrick so obviously the two of them were okay, but _where is Adele? _

"Where is Adele?" He mutters causing the two to look up at him as Alaric breaks through the trees behind him. Elena stares at him, as if his question confused her. "Where is Adele?" He almost shouts and Elena jumps, she doesn't know where Adele is. Elena didn't see where Fredrick had thrown her. "Where is…" Damon breaks off. "Damon." His eyes snap to the right because he knows that voice. He would know that voice anywhere and before Elena knows what's happening he's gone as if he could see or hearing something she couldn't.

It takes him a moment, but he spots the crumbled figure lying a few feet away from a large tree and as he comes to stand over her, the sight makes him physically sick. It was a sight that he could bet was going to haunt him; it was going to give him nightmares.

Dropping to his knees he couldn't even bring himself to touch her. She was alive that much he knew by the sound of her faint heartbeat, but that was just the thing. Her heart beat was faint. She was dying. Mostly likely due to the bleeding bite mark on her neck, the stick shoved through her shoulder and whatever other internal injuries she was suffering from and as he looks down at her, his mind goes numb.

He can't think every part of his body is completely numb because he had tried to protect her but yet here she was still dying. Alaric bends down next to him taking in the wounded girl. "Can't you do anything?" He whispers and Damon blinks looking up at him. "What?" He breaths. "You're a vampire. Can't you _do _anything to save her?"

And Damon's eyes widen because he is a vampire and he can save her. He hears the crunch of leaves behind him. "Stefan keep her back." He shouts back to his brother and Elena. "Why? Is she okay?" Elena yells and Damon doesn't answer her as he reaches out for Adele who is completely unresponsive and as he focus on her he can hear Elena yelling behind him.

Wrapping an arm around her back and a hand around the stick he takes a deep breath and yanks, hard. As he pulls the stick through Adele's eyes snap open and she lets off a high pitched scream so full of agonizing pain, Damon feels like he's been punched in the gut.

She falls back into his arms once again unconscious and he sits back pulling her into his lap, completely oblivious to the fact her blood is spilling onto him, seeping through his clothes and staining his hands red. He brings his wrist up slicing through the flesh with his teeth and bringing it back down pressing it to Adele's blue lips. "Come on Kitten, drink." He mummers to himself as he tilts her head back slightly letting the crimson liquid slide down her throat and as it does he can hear the beating of her heart pick up and her breathing become stronger.

He pulls his wrist away and watches the wound on her neck and the wound on her shoulder start to heel slowly and he watches as her eyes flutter open to look up at him. He lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding, not that it mattered. "Damon…" She chokes and lets off in a gasps. "Shush…You're still healing." He whispers running his knuckles over her cheek bone. Leaning down he presses his forehead to hers and closes his eyes taking a few clamming breaths. "God Kitten…" He mummers and he can feel her fingers running themselves through his hair. "I'm okay." She whimpers and he snorts. "I hurt…everywhere and I'm tired but I'm okay."

"Tried." He repeats slowly. Lifting his head he shifts into a position that allows him to stand while keeping her firmly in his arms through he knows even the slightest movement at this point is going to cause her pain she hides it well. "Let's go home."

~x~

She's fast asleep curled up in his bed where he's gotten used to seeing her and he couldn't think of anywhere else he would rather see her sleeping. He had laid down with her for a good hour before getting up to get a glass of Bourbon and coming back just to sit in a chair beside his bed and watch her. He could stay there forever and watch her because she was sleeping. She wasn't dead.

He was correct when he had thought that the image of her lying half dead would haunt him. He couldn't get it out of his head. Every time he closed his eyes he could see it. He swears that even if it killed him in the end he would do everything in his power to never have to see her that way again.


	13. Chapter 13

**Okay, don't hate me but I kind of rushed to get this chapter done. I finally got my computer back. Yay. But now I figured out we have to move. So I rushed to get this done because I wanted to update before I get too busy with packing and getting settled into a new place because I know I won't have much time for writing and all the packing starts tomorrow. **

**So I hope you all like this chapter, give me your thoughts in the form of reviews and I will update as soon as possible. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 13: Under Control<strong>

She shoves a piece of toast into her mouth as she watches Bruce setting up a flat screen in the living room of his apartment. She's sitting on the little island in the kitchen Indian style, she's fully dressed in a pair of jeans, a navy blue Vans t-shirt with black Vans sneakers to match and her leather jacket, her hair is straight down her back and her face is makeup free with the exception of little mascara. Ever since Damon told her she didn't need to wear make-up she had cut back in the amount she put on, settling for just a little bit of mascara and eyeliner.

"So what happened now?" Adele shifts slightly shoving another piece of toast in her mouth before answering Bruce who hasn't turned his attention away from the cord at the back of the T.V.

"My sister's boyfriend's brother came over telling us that Stefan was missing and that he had a pretty good idea what had happened to him. I guess Stefan and his brother had gotten mixed up with the wrong people before coming here and they had for some type of revenge or something taken Stefan hostage. Basically the whole night sucked." Bruce pauses, turning to gaze back at her.

"Damn. When your family has emergences they have _emergences_. Is your sister's boyfriend okay?" Adele shrugs. "Fine, he was little beat up when we found him but by looking at him you wouldn't be able to tell."

Bruce stops messing around with the cord to gaze back at her as he stands. "That guy who called this morning, that was…" Adele blinks. "Stefan's brother. Damon, he's like 24 or something. He's a really close friend, a little unstable at times but a friend none the less."

"He's the one who picked you up from school the day you didn't have your mustang." She nods. "And he helped you get your job?" She nods again wondering exactly where he was going with this. "Does he call you every day?" She shrugs. "He calls me at least once on most days. Mostly just to bug me. Bruce…what are you getting at?"

Bruce sighs shrugging a shoulder. "I don't know. I know I don't know him or anything but it just sounds like he's into you is all." She raises an eyebrow. "He's just a really good friend."

"I was just a really good friend before like a week ago." Adele can't help but smile. "Are you jealous of someone you don't even know?" Bruce shrugs and Adele lets out a laugh causing Bruce to shake his head. Walking up to her he places his hands on her waist. "One more question." She nods. "Okay."

"Is he good looking?" Adele laughs again placing her hands on his chest. "Bruce, you have nothing to worry about." He smiles slightly. "Just answer the question." She sighs. "The truth?" He nods. "He's extremely good looking, like stop and bluntly stare good looking." Bruce's smile falls and Adele smiles wrapping her arms around his neck. "You wanted the truth." She mutters. He grunts. "Though he is good looking and can be extremely sweet and caring, like I said before he's a bit unstable at times. I mean like the guy is crazy. Plus I'm with you now and I'm kind of surprised I mean I normally go for the blondes."

Bruce laughs. "Yeah I know, example A, Michael." She smiles a bit fondly at the name. "You liked Mikey. Everybody liked Mikey." A small teasing grin laces his lips. "What?" Adele mutters and he shakes his head. "Just even after you guys break up you still call him Mikey. He hates that." She giggles slightly. "It kind of went from me trying to tease him to his nickname. I liked calling him Mikey and I know deep down he liked me calling him Mikey."

Bruce smile wavers slightly. "Have you seen Michael this year?" Adele's smile fades. "Now that you mention it…no, I haven't. Why is that?" Bruce studies her. "I heard his dad was released on bail, he went up to Chicago to look after his sister while they tried to locate him. I heard he's still enrolled at the high school, he just hasn't returned yet." Adele takes her arms away, leaning back to get a better look at him. "You're kidding? After all he went through to make sure the bastard was arrested and they release him?" Bruce nods and Adele runs a hand through her hair.

Bruce sensing her worry rubs his hands up and down her sides. "I'm sure everything is fine." Before she has the chance to say anything her cell blares the chorus of Animal by Neon Trees causing both her and Bruce to glance at the phone laying discarded next to her. Elena's name flashes brightly on the screen and she sighs picking it up. "What?"

"Uncle John is at the house." Adele frowns slightly.

"Uncle John? Seriously?"

"Yes seriously." Elena answers almost harshly.

"What does he want? Not that he isn't welcomed or anything just…what does he want?"

"I have no idea, but whatever it is, it can't be good." Adele rolls her eyes.

"Come on Sister, what is it with you and Aunt Jenna? I'm sure whatever he's in town for can't be that bad."

"Mom didn't like him either, it runs in the family." Adele shakes her head.

"It runs in the family…Elena we're adopted. Your dislike for Uncle John comes simply from your own opinions. Mom actually had no problem with Uncle John, Dad had no problem with Uncle John, Jeremy has no problem with Uncle John and I have no problem with Uncle John. You and Aunt Jenna are the only ones who do."

Elena sighs. "Whatever. I still want to know what he wants."

"So do I, but were just going to have to wait and find out. I'll see you at school." And she hangs up placing the phone back down and looking back up at Bruce she shakes her head. "My sister is paranoid." She shrugs a shoulder. Leaning up she gives him a quick kiss. "I have to go. I'll see you later."

~x~

Come lunch time Adele is strolling down the hall next to Tyler, texting Caroline and listening to Caitlyn Sanders talk about her date with some guy name Jason who's on the track team. She's stopped by Alaric Saltzman and both Tyler and Caitlyn wave as they rush off in the other direction. Adele rolls her eyes at them before following Alaric into his classroom.

"I told your sister to meet me in here as well." Adele nods hopping up on one of the desk in the front row. "Then I'm sure she's rushing down the hall as we speak, being as she worries _way_ too much." Alaric sends her a small smile. "How are you?" Adele shrugs. "I feel fine now. Yesterday not so much, my head felt like it was going to explode. Damon said it was mainly due to the blood. Damon though was convinced if I left his sight yesterday that I would somehow die and become a vampire." She pauses to her roll her eyes. "He has already called me three times today to check up on me."

"So you really trust him?" Adele raises an eyebrow. Why does it seem like she's explaining Damon to everyone today? Alaric notes that she responses with no hesitation to his question. "Yes. I know he won't hurt me."

"But do you know he won't hurt anybody you care about?" This time she does hesitate before she answers him. "I know that he won't hurt anyone I care about if he doesn't have a reason. He won't do it just to hurt them; I'm not saying that I understand why he would hurt them no matter what I'm just saying he knows how I feel about it, he won't do anything to hurt me and hurting them hurts me, he won't deliberately hurt anyone I care about."

"In other words… whether it is for a good reason you don't know if he will or not." She turns her blue eyes away from him. "No I don't."

"But you trust him?" She nods. "I trust him. I trust him with me, with my safety." He doesn't understand how she could trust him. Of course they were talking about the vampire that turned his wife so Alaric was sure the reason he couldn't understand had something to do with that but Stefan is a good guy, he was also a vampire and that made it hard for Alaric to trust him as well.

Alaric is snapped from his thoughts at the door of his classroom opening. "Took you long enough." He hears Adele mutter as Elena slips in closing the door softly behind her. Elena ignores her sister's comment as she takes to leaning against the desk next to her. "You wanted to see us about Jeremy."

"I made a copy of a paper Jeremy wrote for me." Alaric picks up a paper from his desk scanning the front to make sure he has the correct paper. "The bonus paper?" Adele mutters and Alaric nods handing the paper over to her. "I think you should take a look at it." Adele takes it narrowing her eyes slightly. What could be so wrong with a history paper?

Glancing down she finds her answer. _Fact or Fiction: The Truth about Vampires in Mystic Falls. _Adele flips open to the first page as Elena glances up in alarm. "Jeremy wrote this?"

"He made it very clear he didn't think it was real." Adele quits scanning through the paper to look up at the history teacher. "I really hope your right. We've done so much to protect him from this. To keep him out of it."

"How do you deal with it?" The question surprises the sisters.

"What do you mean?" Elena mutters and Adele hands the paper back to Alaric.

"You know, all the lies and the secrets, you have to lie to everyone who's important to you."

Elena answers for the both of them. "It's not safe for them to know the truth, so yes we keep it from them but it's only because we love them."

Alaric nods to say he understands as he stands to walk around the desk. Once he's had a chance to gather his thoughts he turns back to them. "I think Stefan is a good guy, but at the end of the day he's still a vampire."

"I know it's hard to understand, but Stefan's different, he wouldn't do anything to hurt me…to hurt us." Elena explains before standing up and walking out like only she could and Adele shakes her head.

"You understand where I'm coming from right?" Adele looks up at Alaric. "Of course. A vampire turned your wife, hard feelings against vampires, that vampire turned out to be Damon, hard feelings against Damon." She shrugs standing up. "I don't blame you for hating vampires; if I was in your position I probably would hate them to. Wanna know my secret?" He nods slowly. "Take it one day at time, or you're going to overwhelm yourself and most likely drive yourself crazy. Maybe one day you'll learn that not all Vampires are bad."

~x~

She walks into the kitchen in the middle of Uncle John telling Jeremy that once he could appreciate the significance, he'll tell him all about the Gilbert heritage. "Hm, the Gilbert family legacy, I forgot how it sacred it was. I'm not a Gilbert so I was never cool enough to hear it." Leaning towards John Adele decided Jeremy is trying to act discreet while asking, "Why does she hate you so much?"

John takes a glance in Jenna's direction. "We use to sleep together." His answer was so straight forward that Adele mostly choked but both her and Jeremy jump when Jenna turns to throw a package of something at him that hits him in the head and fly towards her which she easily dodges. Jeremy turns back to look at Adele in surprise causing the two to snicker. "I see we're all getting along." Her comment causes Jenna to glare and John to smirk at her.

Taking a seat across from Jeremy she reaches for the sweat and sour chicken. "It's called a plate Adele." Adele waves John off. "I'm not staying. No need to waste a perfectly good plate."

"Where are you going? You just got off work." Jenna speaks up placing a hand on her hip. "And it's a school night."

"The strict guardian façade is not working in your favor Aunt Jenna plus I have a date."

"With Damon?" Adele freezes in her reach for the chicken fried rice to glance up at Jeremy. "No not with Damon."

"Damon Salvatore?" Adele nods turning to her uncle John. "Isn't he a little old for you?" Adele sighs placing down the rice. "First off I'm not going on a date with Damon, me and Damon are just friends, there is nothing going on with me and Damon." She regards everyone in the room before turning back to John. "And 2nd no he's not too old even if there was something going on."

~x~

Adele throws her dirty t-shirt into the hamper next to her bathroom door before regarding Elena. "You want me to do what?"

"Call Damon, ask him to come over."

"Why can't you?"

"Because he likes you better." Adele shrugs. She couldn't argue with that logic. "Fine." Picking up her IPhone from the dresser she dials his all too familiar number, waiting the 5 seconds it takes him to answer. "Did you get yourself killed yet?" She rolls her eyes. "Oh yes Damon, how did you know? I'm lying dead in my room right now, why don't you come over and check?"

"I'll be over in 10."

"Make it 5."

"Deal."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Placing the phone back on her dresser Adele turns to Elena. "He'll be here in 5." Elena nods. "So I heard." Adele stares at her sister for a moment. "What is it Elena?" Elena shakes her head slightly. "You two just seem to get closer everyday…I'm just worried." Adele rolls her eyes. "Don't. Damon and I are just friends, at the moment I'm with Bruce."

"How is that going anyways?"

"It's going good. It's going real good." She sighs and instantly Elena knows there is something she isn't saying. "Adele…what is it?" And surprising both herself and Elena she opens up.

"He found out about Damon, now even though he says he's not worried about it, I know he is and then there's Michael. Have you seen Michael around lately?" Elena shakes her head no and Adele sighs again. "Didn't think so."

Elena doesn't have time to response before the doorbell rings and Adele shrugs as she walks past Elena. As she reaches the front door she swings it open. "You came fast." She mutters and he smirks. "You called, I came. I'm easy like that." He mutters back and she rolls her eyes a small smirk tugging at her lips as she lets him in. She pauses in her way to the stairs when he places his hands on the sides of her head. "How is your head?" She frowns up at him. "I already told you. All better." He nods. "Just making sure."

Elena speaks up. "Come on, let's go to my room." Damon smirks spotting Jeremy in the living room. "No Elena, I won't go to your room with you!" Adele shakes her head. "Okay than we'll go to mine."

"In that case, lead the way." Adele catches Jeremy watching them out of the corner of her eye and sighs. She knows Elena wants to talk to him about them being adopted but she didn't see the reason. Jeremy is still there little brother even if it wasn't by blood.

Adele leads them into the room and Damon takes a minute to look around before smirking over at her. "Just like I remember." Adele closes the door softly glancing up at him. "Don't be creepy." She mummers causing him to laugh as he lies back on her bed picking up her black teddy bear and clinching it to his chest tightly. "Did you know that your uncle has been kicking it with the founder's council?"

"What?" Elena snaps and Damon nods. "Yep."

"Perfect, we'll just add that to the list of things that are falling apart." Adele glances over at Elena but stays completely silent. "Did something happen with my brother?" Elena shakes her head, not wanting to discuss Stefan with his brother. "No." Damon isn't convinced as he raises an eyebrow at her and she sighs. "Look Damon I'm worried about Stefan. He's says that everything is okay but he's clearly struggling. How long is it going to take before he's back to normal?"

"A few days, give or take." Elena glances at Adele but all she does is shrug, she has nothing to say on the matter this was Elena's problem. "It's been a few days." Damon shrugs and Adele can tell that Elena's growing concern with Stefan's blood lust is an annoying subject for him. "Give then, I don't know, what's the big deal?" Adele watches him stand from the bed and hand her bear to Elena who looks at it confused before throwing it on the bed.

"He's not himself Damon." Elena's voice goes up a level.

"Well maybe he spent to long not being himself." Adele turns her attention back to Damon just in time to see him opening the top drawer to her dresser. She rushes over to him as he holds up a pink slightly metallic leopard print bra with lace straps. Damon finds himself captivated with it before it's ripped from his hands.

He looks down watching as Adele slams the drawer shut before looking up at him. "Don't make me sorry for letting you in here." In sends her a smile before reaching up and grabbing the picture he had been wanting to steal from her since he saw it last time he was in the room. She reaches up to grab for it but he's already on the other side of the room.

"It is what it is Elena, the Stefan you know, this good behavior Stefan, Fight against his nature to an annoyingly obsessive level…Stefan but if you think there's not another part to this then you have not been paying attention." While talking his eyes never left Adele who is now standing in front of him, she snatches the picture back quickly making him frown as he watches her go back to the dresser and return it to the mirror.

"He is not you Damon, not even close." Damon nods only half paying attention to Elena as he follows Adele back over to the dresser surprising her when she turns around to find him standing so close. She has to brace herself against the dresser as she looks up at him. "He doesn't want to be me…That doesn't mean that deep down that he's not." Reaching behind her he picks the picture from the mirror and this time she doesn't try to stop him as he stuffs it into his back pocket and leaves.

"He just stole my picture, the picture Michael took of me last summer." Elena tares her eyes away from the door to look at Adele. "Why would he steal my picture? What could he possibly want with it?"

Shaking her head she pushes off the dresser. "Be ready in like 5 minutes, it's time we talked to Jeremy." Elena watches her walk from the room leaving Elena alone in the room for the first time in years. Elena takes the opportunity to look around. It had been a while since she was truly in Adele's room. When Adele as gone nobody dared go in, the door stayed closed and it never opened. Elena jumps slightly when Adele appears back in the doorway. "One more thing," Elena nods. "Get out of my room."

….

Jeremy looks between his two sisters as they walk up the side of a lake their parents use to bring them to when they were younger, he can remember walking along the lake as a young child holding the hands of his older sister's hands. Now they were telling him they were adopted. The idea of not truly being related to them was almost too crazy to believe.

"I just can't believe mom and dad didn't tell you, you guys were adopted." Adele shrugged. "I'm sure they would have eventually." Elena mummers softly. "Well why were you guys worried about what I thought?"

"Because I don't know…it's weird. You know going your whole life thinking you're related by blood to someone." Jeremy looks at them suddenly worried. "Does it bug you that were not?" And Adele laughs, if it had been in any other situation he would have been slightly annoyed, but laughing at him could only mean she thought his way of thinking is ridicules. "No of course not, you're our brother Jer, that's never going to change."

To avoid turning the conversion into something of a sappy family moment, Adele changes the subject. "Mr. Saltzman said you've been doing great in history now." He nods "Yeah he's really been helping me out." Adele smiles up at him. "He loved your vampire paper, the one you did for extra credit."

"He thought I had a cleaver angle."

Elena cuts in. "What drew you to that subject?"

"Uh I don't know. Boredom or maybe I'm just as nuts as the long line of Gilbert crazy."

Elena laughs and Adele can't help but follow. "The Gilberts aren't crazy." Elena defends which causes Adele to scoff. Jeremy smirks down at Elena. "Well easy for you to say you're not one." Adele laughs as Elena stops to look up at him. "Ouch." She laughs as well. "That was a low blow little brother." Adele adds on and Elena pushes him into Adele causing Adele gasps pushing him back into her. Jeremy laughs "Gosh!"

~x~

Bruce's F150 pulls up in front of the Lockwood manner for Mystic Fall's 150th anniversary. Adele jumps out before he has the chance to open the door for her and she smirks over at him as she walks past. He shakes his head as he hands his keys to the parking valet.

Catching up with her, he holds his hand out and she takes it with a small smile. "Now be warned Bruce that Damon is here and he will approach me at some point. Be nice." Bruce nods. "I'll be nice."

"I'm serious Bruce. Please be nice. I told you before he can be a bit unstable at times." Bruce stops walking and she turns to look at him. She had to let him know how important it was to her that he not pick a fight with Damon. She likes Bruce but it wasn't going to be easy to show him that if he was dead.

"I promise I'll be nice." Adele smile. "Thank you." Leaning up she places a small kiss on his lips. "Come on."

She drags him up the steps and through the front door where the first thing she notices is Tyler and Matt standing off in the doorway of a room holding an open bottle of some type of alcohol she can't make out. She drags Bruce behind her as she sneaks up. "Underage drinking is illegal." She sings causing Tyler to jump and choke on a sip of whatever it is he is drinking. Adele laughs.

"That…was not funny." Tyler gasps out between coughs.

"I don't know man that was pretty funny." Matt chuckles causing Tyler to glare.

"You're the poster child of underage drinking little missy." Adele scoffs.

"You guys remember Bruce?" Tyler is half surprised to see the male standing behind Adele because he hadn't noticed him before. "Oh yeah. Hey man." Matt is the first to speak up, mostly because he had worked with Bruce to improve his skills in football back in freshman year in a hope he would make quarterback for the team someday. "You guys know each other?"

Adele laughs leaving Bruce to answer for her. "Yeah, we've known each other since her freshman year."

"I don't usually see you at these things." Tyler mentions, wondering why he decided to come to this one event out of all the rest and why he had come with Adele of all people.

"I actually wasn't going to come tonight…" He trails off glancing at Adele who jumps in.

"But I threated to ask someone else. Plus what kind of boyfriend would you be if you didn't come as my date tonight?" Matt smirks. "Boyfriend?"

"Yeah." Adele smirks back. "I'll see you boys later."

~x~

She sips from a wine glass as she watches Bruce mingle with some of the older residents, they had pulled him away clamming they hadn't seen him in too long and they needed to catch up.

She was so involved in watching them that she almost missed Damon walking up beside her. "Glad to see you made it." She takes her eyes away from Bruce for a moment to look up at him before looking back. "Of course I made it. Why wouldn't I? And don't go off about my head. It's fine." He nods through she's not looking at him and he wonders exactly what it is that has her attention.

"Look Damon…" Suddenly she turns to face him and he raises an eyebrow. "About that night…You were right. I should have listened to you; I should've stayed in the car. I wouldn't have almost died if I did."

"You wouldn't have died either way Kitten. I wouldn't have let you die."

"I was already half died when you found me, two seconds could have been by my deciding factor. If you would have found me two seconds later I could be dead right now. You realize that right?"

"Of course I realize that. Kitten…I didn't give you blood the second I found you. It wasn't till Alaric reminded me I could save you that I gave you the blood. Seeing you like Kitten, I went numb. I couldn't think. I was sure you we're gonna die." Adele sucks in a breath. She wanted to know what that means; she couldn't wrap her mind around the meaning of his words. She's about to get up the voice to ask him but stops when Bruce suddenly appears.

Damon seems annoyed by the interruption. "Bruce…this is Damon. Damon this is Bruce." Damon is slapped with realization. This Bruce is the guy Adele had to cancel on when he told her about Stefan, this Bruce he can be almost 100 percent from what he's caught from Elena Adele is dating. Damon decided then he doesn't like him.

"Well we….have to go…this way." Adele mutters grabbing a hold of Bruce's hand to drag him away. Once she's a safe distance away she looks up at Bruce. "Satisfy your curiosity?" Bruce glances back but doesn't see the man anywhere. "Yeah, I guess."

"By the way, I pulled you away before that could get ugly. I don't think he was in the best mood, might be best if we avoid him for the rest of the night."

~x~

He was sulking, and sulking big time as he drowns another glass of bourbon. Adele and her "date" weren't standing too far away from the bar and he had purposely sat there to listen in on them, as childish as that sounds.

"I wouldn't say she was flirting." Adele laughs softly. "She was totally flirting." Her date is silent for a moment. "Yeah, she was." Damon hears a light smacking sound. "OW. That hurt."

"I didn't hit you that hard."

"You hurt my feelings."

"Aw. Want me to kiss you? Will that make it better?"

Before he can register what he's doing Damon pushes himself from the bar and crosses the room to them. "I need to talk to you." Adele glances up. "It can wait."

"No it can't."

"Damon."

"Kitten."

Turning back to Bruce she smiles softly. "I'll be right back." She turns pointing off to the right. "Go." She demands and Damon sends the boy a glare before doing as she says.

"What is it Damon?"

"It's about Jeremy."

"Is he in trouble?" Adele places her hands on her hips and for the first time that night Damon takes in her blue and black dress.

"No."

"Is he hurt?"

"No."

"Then I don't want to hear it right now. I came here looking for fun. Not drama. You can drag me into the drama tomorrow. I've had a good day, let me end it on a positive note. Please Damon, one night. That's all I ask."

Before he can reply she's gone, walking away from him and back to her _date_. He cruses. What is wrong with him tonight?

~x~

Adele is leading Bruce to the back yard wanting to put some distance between them and Damon. She's stopped by a crash that makes her jump.

Looking over she spots Tyler and Matt fighting, Elena screaming and Kelly on the ground crying. Bruce is the first to move, going over to help break up the fight along with Alaric. Elena rushes to check on Matt as Adele walks up to Tyler who is being pinned to the way, but fighting for freedom. "Tyler, cut it out!" Tyler stops, looking down at her. "What the hell?" She snaps and Tyler's eyes move to Matt.

Mr. Lockwood arrives on the scene quickly ushering Tyler to get cleaned up and she wishes Tyler didn't pick a place where his dad would be to start a fight. "Matt…" Adele places a hand on his shoulder before sitting next to him. "Are you okay?" He ignores her question with one of his own. "Where is she?" Adele shrugs; she doesn't see his mother anywhere any more. "I don't know." Looking up at Bruce she shakes her head. "Drama drama drama." She mouths and he smiles back shrugging.

~x~

"So if you were planning on some cleaver high speed snatch ring vamp kill move, know that when I die everything I know goes to the council, including the fascinating little tale of the original Salvatore brothers and their present day return to Mystic Falls." Alaric steps forward. "How did you get that ring?"

"I inherited one, my brother the other. This was his, and I wouldn't have given mine to Isobel if I knew if I'd known she'd hand it over to another guy." Damon smirks. "So you did know her." John looks over at him, part of him wondering what his _niece_ saw in him.

"Who do you think sent her your way when she wanted to become a vampire?" Damon raises a surprised eyebrow. "You sent her?" John shrugs a shoulder. "Guilty." Damon frowns, getting a glimpse of Adele in John.

_Damon watches closely as the two girls take each other in and he's half worried that Anna is going to attack Adele before Adele finally speaks up. "You must be that girl Anna." Anna sends her a smirk back. "You must be that sister Adele." He watches as she shrugs a shoulder. "Guilty."_

"Why did you think someone else sent her?" Damon looks at John snapping out of his mental trip down memory lane. "Like Katherine Peirce?" Damon pauses gathering his thoughts. "How do you know about Katherine?"

"How do I know anything Damon?" Damon steps towards him. "What do you want?" John looks him up and down. "So many questions…" John glances over at Alaric next. "It was nice to meet you Ric, I've heard so much about you." He looks back at Damon a small smirk playing on his lips. "Now if you don't mind I need to go check on my Niece."


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry this took so long. I'm finally all settled in at the new house so I've had time to write. Moving is a long and hard process. xD Anyways I hope you like this chapter and I would like at least 3 more reviews before the next one but more is always welcomed. (: **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 14: Miss. Mystic Falls <strong>

Adele presses her cell phone to her ear as she exits Bruce's apartment building cursing the whole way. "Reconsidering my offer?" A perky, female voice breaks through the other end and Adele glances back up at the building behind her. "I can have the guest room?" The voice laughs. "Of course, did you think I was going to try and get you to come up here and then make you stay in a hotel?"

"No of course not, I was just making sure. It shouldn't take me long to get there. Just have to pack and dodge my sister and Damon."

"Damon? Who's Damon? Didn't you say you were seeing Bruce now?" Adele shakes her head as she searches for the keys to her mustang in her back pack. "Yeah I did, but I don't know if that's going to work out anymore."

_Flashback – _

_Adele sighs as she places her cell phone on the counter next to her in Bruce's kitchen. "What do you want me to say Bruce? He's an overly friendly guy. He doesn't believe in personal space." The minute they had gotten into Bruce's truck he started on her about Damon and he wasn't letting up. _

"_It wasn't just that Adele. I saw the way he looked at you, like he wanted to jump you right then and there." _

"_We're just friends that is all." _

"_That's not what it looked like." _

_Adele crosses her arms staring back at Bruce as he stares at her from across the kitchen island._

"_I don't know what to say that I haven't said already. I mean what do you want from me? To not be friends with him? To pick?" When he doesn't say anything she narrows her blue eyes slightly. "Don't make me pick Bruce. You won't like my choice." _

"_You'd pick him over a guy you've known since your freshman year?" Adele picks up her cell phone. "Yes, and it's complicated so don't ask me why. I don't want to talk about this anymore. I'll come by tomorrow and we can talk, you know if you've clamed down." Bruce follows her to the door having every intention to stop her as she picks up her heels from beside the door all the while dialing a number on her phone. _

_She presses her phone to her ear as she places her heels under her arm to open the door, he stops when he's about to catch her when he hears the name she mutters. "Damon…Can you come pick me up…Mystic Falls Apartments building B…Thank you." She slams the door on her way out. It was safe to say she was beyond furious. _

_End of flashback._

She had went back to talk to him the next day just to find he wasn't home and on Monday he had called in sick to work. The next day he had avoided her completely and she was sick of it. She caught him coming out of his apartment that morning and confronted him about it. He didn't have an answer for her.

"You're really going to be that big of a baby about this?" She had asked and once again he didn't answer. "You don't want to talk now fine, but when you do want to talk I might not be willing to listen." Once again she stormed off, her mind completely numb.

Though the fog she had remembered an offer a friend of hers that was now going to Duke had made to her about going up there for a few days to hang out and at the time she declined but as she was heading out of Bruce's apartment she was reconsidering and by the time she got to the lobby she had made up her mind. She's going to North Carolina.

~x~

She had avoid Elena easily seeing as she had already left for school by the time Adele arrived home to pack and as she's packing some clothes her phone goes off. Glancing down she sighs. "Hi Damon." She mutters as she picks it up. "Where are you?"

"School, its Wednesday where else would I be?"

"Elena said you weren't home when I stopped by." Adele slows to a stop next to her bed. "You stopped by?"

"Yes. I wanted to kidnap you before you left for school. I was going to hide you out in my room and watch bad T.V, a total reason to not do anything today." Adele can't help but laugh. "I'm not kidding."

"I know. Just the whole idea was funny. Anyways, I left early. I went over to Bruce's." Damon doesn't say anything. "Damon? Are you there?"

"Oh…yeah. How are you guys, you know since Saturday?"

"Yeah…I'm fairly sure it's not going to work out. He wants me to choose." She sighs plopping down on the bed. "What do you mean he wants you to choose?"

"Well he didn't exactly say he wants me to choose…"

"Then how do you know he wants you to choose and choose what?" Adele can barely believe she's having this conversion with him but it felt good to talk to someone and he was willing to listen.

"He didn't have to. Silence speaks louder than words."

"Okay…" Damon trails off for a moment before continuing. "I'm still wondering one thing."

"What?" She asks as she crosses her legs under her, twirling a piece of hair around her finger.

"What does he want you to choose between?"

"Oh…you and him. He believes that there's something more going on between us then there actually is and I asked him what he wanted me to do about it pick? And he didn't say anything, which I took as a yes and left." Damon hums softly for a moment.

"So that's what happened that night. I was wondering why you called so upset. I was ready to kill someone just so you know." She laughs again. "Did you choose?" Adele stops laughing.

"Basically. I told him that night not to make me choose because he wouldn't like my choice, probably shouldn't have said that but it's true so…" She trails off with a shrug.

"So your choice was me?"

"Yeah Damon, of course it was you. You're the only solid thing in my life right now, everything else is flimsy as fuck. Elena and I don't get along, I don't talk to my best friends as much as I should, I'm adopted so like my whole life was a lie and I can't remember anything from my summer. Apparently I was engaged? Like what the hell is that? You would think I would remember something like that, plus I'm pretty sure I'm going crazy. I see a guy who isn't really there who is by the way sitting right next to me and yesterday I was talking to myself, do I sound crazy to you? Don't answer that." She sighs. "I feel normal with you. You're the only thing I'm sure of right now Damon, if I didn't pick you I'm pretty sure I'd fall apart. Pretty sure I'd go insane and I'm sure it wouldn't be that easy to get rid of you anyways."

Taking a deep breath she shakes her head. "I got to go Damon I'll talk to you later." She hangs up leaving Damon to stare at his phone in complete surprise. What did she just say?

~x~

That night Damon gets a call from a frantic Elena. "Is Adele with you?" Damon rolls his eyes, why does everyone always assume she's with him? "No. I called her early she said she was at school and I haven't had time to bother her anymore."

"She wasn't at school Damon."

"Of course she was at school. She wouldn't lie to me." Would she?

"She lied to you. She didn't show up to school. Jenna says there's a duffle bag and one of her small gym bags messing from her room. Her hair brush, tooth brush, shampoo, perfume, deodorant, cell phone and car are messing from the house. She's not with Carolina, she's not with Tyler and she's not with Bruce. No one I've called as seen her."

Damon controls the sudden panic in his gut. "Maybe she's at a motel or something in town. Maybe she just needed to get away from the house."

"I know even you don't believe that. I don't know where she is and I don't want to believe this but I think she may have skipped town again." Damon shakes his head. No Adele did not skip town. Not with everything she told him this morning.

"She didn't skip town Elena. I'll call her."

~x~

"It's not much but you have to attempt it is pretty cozy." Adele sends Hanna a small smile. "It's awesome Hanna. Perfect." Hanna smiles back and Adele glances down at her phone as it vibrates. "Elena again?" Adele shakes her head. "Damon. Elena must've called him. I'm going to have to turn my phone off to get any sleep tonight."

"Yeah you still haven't explained to me who Damon is. What happened to Bruce?" Adele is about to answer but Hanna holds up a hand. "Let's go to the living room, pop open a bottle of wine and watch a movie then you can tell me all about it." Adele smirks, same old Hanna.

~x~

"Start from the beginning. What happened between you and Bruce?" Adele takes a long sip of wine before jumping into the story of the day at the auto shop to the events of today. Hanna listens carefully to every word that comes out of Adele's mouth.

"So you picked this Damon guy over Bruce? Why?" Adele takes another sip to give her a chance to think over her words carefully.

"He's my backboard at the moment. Without him I'd most likely fall on my face." Hanna smirks.

"Well you don't want to do that, it is a very pretty face." Adele laughs. "So this Damon guy…who is he? Some guy from your class?" Adele shakes her head.

"No…but his younger brother is in my class. His younger brother is dating my sister. That is actually how I know him."

"So he's older? How old?"

"24." Hanna eyes bug slightly and she stares for a good minute.

"Wow. I didn't think you went for guys that much older." Adele scoffs lightly. "He's not that much older than me and I'm not going after him. Like I said he's my backboard, all I can afford to be with him right now is friends." Hanna studies her friend. "But there's more feelings involved then just friends…aren't there?" Adele stares back at Hanna. How was she supposed to answer that when she didn't even know the answer?

~x~

Friday night Adele slips off her heels coming through the apartment door Hanna trailing behind her giggling. "Did you see his face when you told him you were still in high school? Oh my god I thought I was going to die laughing." Adele giggles as she sits on the couch putting her feet up with her. She pulls her phone out to check her missed calls and texts for the day.

_5 Text Messages_

She sighs opening her messages, 2 from Elena, 1 from Caroline, 1 from Tyler and 1 from Damon.

_Can you please call us? Just let us know where you are. ~Elena_

_I want to strangle you right now. Call me. ~Elena _

_You totally bailed! What the hell? Where are you? Call me! ~Caroline_

_My mom is going crazy wondering where you are. You are in big trouble little missy. Lol. ~Tyler _

_There are a lot of people who want to kill you right now. When you get back to town I might just have to do it myself. Call me. ~Damon_

She groans. "I have to call, their starting to threaten me." Hanna just laughs plopping down next to her as she dials a number. "Are you calling Elena?" Adele scoffs placing the phone to her ear. "Yeah right, I don't want— Damon. Hi." Hanna jumps over to her placing her ear to the phone as well.

"What the hell Adele? Where the fuck are you?" Adele's eyes widen, she had never heard him so mad, at least not at her. "Damon calm down."

"No I'm not going to fucking calm down! Tell me where the hell you are!"

"I'm not telling you where I am."

"I swear if you jumped town I will track you down and drag you back here kicking and screaming." Hanna's eyes widen as she squeezes Adele's arm. Adele sinks into the couch. He is pissed she could tell not just by the yelling but by the way he called her by her name.

"I didn't jump town Damon. I mean I'm not in town right now but I'm coming back, Sunday."

"Sunday? No you need to be here by tomorrow. The founder's court is tomorrow. Carol Lockwood at the moment wants you delivered to her on a silver platter and the whole town thinks I know where you are, they think I'm lying to protect your location when I say I don't."

Adele sudden intake of breath startles Hanna slightly. "Oh my god! Damon! I forgot about the Founder's Court! I was supposed to be in that!" Damon laughs. "No duh! Why do you think Carol is so mad?"

"Oh so it's only Carol who's mad?"

"No! We're all mad Adele."

"I'm sorry." She whispers. "I just wanted to get away for a little while. I told you why the day I left."

"Because of the Bruce thing or the crazy thing?" Adele sighs. "The later." He's silent for a moment. "Kitten…" He lets out a breath of air. "You're not crazy. You need to come home."

"Okay. I'll be home by the Founder's Court."

"Stop by the house before you go, I'll wait for you."

"Is that to make sure I show up?"

"Yes."

"Fine. Bye Damon."

~x~

She leaves Hanna's Apartment sometime around 8 the next morning but not before Hanna insist on doing her hair. As she's pulling out onto the road from the parking lot she sends a text to Damon telling him she was on her way home and it would take her 2 hours maybe longer to get back. _You don't want to go back. You know you don't._ She frowns. Of course she wants to go back…right?

The drive back feels shorter than the drive up to North Carolina but when she arrives home she's happy to see Jenna, Jeremy and Elena are already gone. She races up to her room to do her make-up, throw on a dress, a pair of heels and some accessories before racing out the house and back into her car, the whole process taking a solid hour.

~x~

He's holding an empty glass and pacing in front of the fire place when he hears the motor of her mustang pull up. He sets his glass on the table as he makes his way to the front door. He has every intention to yell at her but the minute he opens the door to see her standing there in her red dress, he forgets his anger for relief, relief that she didn't skip town on them.

"Are you going to yell at me again?" A slow smirk forms on her pink lips as he shakes his head. "Okay. When does the Founder's Court start?" Damon glances down at his watch. "Noon its 11:30." Adele nods smiling. "If you can stand being late, can we stop for something to eat? I'm hungry."

"Okay. Let's go."

Adele follows him to his Camaro. "I think I should take my car." Damon shakes his head opening the passenger side door. "Get in. You're officially my date."

"Well that's how everyone else will see it, but you and I know we're just friends." Damon grins. "Of course, whatever you say. Get in the car."

~x~

Carol Lockwood spots Damon's blue Camaro pull up in the front of the house and to her surprise and sudden rush of relief Adele is with him. Like everyone else Carol had gone to Damon demanding to know where Adele was when it became clear to her that Elena, Jeremy and Jenna didn't know where she had taken off to which only meant there was one other person who Carol figured Adele would tell anyone her whereabouts to and that was Damon Salvatore. Why she figured Adele would tell Damon over anyone else was still a mystery itself.

It became clear very quickly that Damon didn't know where she was either, having watched the man pace around in her living room ranting about how irresponsible Adele was being and what would happen if she were to get hurt and no body being there to help her. It also became clear in that moment just how much Damon cared for the young woman weather he was going to attempt it or not.

And watching the two of them walk towards the front, she couldn't help but notice the beauty of them together. While there has always been something about Damon that had struck her as dark, as if he was being pulled back to some dark place by some invisible force with Adele by his side it was almost non exist, it seemed like with Adele near there was nothing for him to be guarded about, nothing but the thought of protecting her that kept him from disappearing back into such a dark place.

Carol watches as Damon grips Adele's hand as they climb the steps and everything in the two of them glows and it scared her because that kind of emotion was just enough to make or break people. They were either going to rise or crash but either way it went they we're just past the line of no return and if they crashed Carol could bet neither of them was going to make it out whole and she wasn't prepared to see Adele end up a shell of a person.

~x~

Adele wasn't sure how Carol or anyone else for that matter would react to seeing her but to her surprise Carol wasn't mad; she barely mentioned Adele's disappearance as she pulled her away from Damon complaining about needing help with something. It wasn't till she pushed her into the Kitchen ordering the waiters and waitresses to leave that Adele understood what was about to happen. "So you and Damon?" Adele shakes her head. "Carol please…" She really wasn't in the mood to explain her and Damon to anyone today.

"Just answer the question." Adele is silent for a moment staring at the woman she considered to be a second mother. "There is no me and Damon. We're friends and that's all. I'd really love it if everyone would stop asking me about us." Carol lets out a long breath. "I'm sorry; I'm just worried about you is all." Adele nods. "I understand that but Damon and I are not something to worry about. All I'm asking is for people to let me and Damon worry about us."

"Okay…fine. Just one more question." Adele nods sighing. "Did Damon know where you went?" Adele rolls her blue eyes in annoyance. "I didn't tell him until last night." Carol nods slightly with narrowed eyes gazing at Adele as if she was trying to tell if the young girl was lying. Adele meets her gaze with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not lying Carol."

"I didn't say you were."

"But you're thinking it." Adele mutters pushing past her, she had had enough of being accused of having a relationship with Damon. They were nothing more than close friends. _You may be able to fool the rest of them with that lie but you know you're not fooling yourself. _Adele frowns as she rounds the corner and curses out loud as she slams into the chest of someone. "I'm sorry." She mutters casting her eyes up to meet leaf green eyes and she huffs. "Oh…it's you."

Bruce shifts his eyes down the length of her body and back up. "You look really good." She raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms across her chest. "I know. Is there something you want?" She watches as Bruce takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry…"

"You're sorry? You're kidding me right?" Bruce shakes his head while shoving his hands into his pockets. "Listen Adele…" Adele scoffs, she wasn't in the mood for this either. "No. I told you, when you are willing to talk I may not be willing to listen and at the moment I'm not." She pushes her way around him and he watches as she disappears around another corner.

She meets back up with Damon a few minutes later at the bottom of the massive staircase. Adele spots one of the girls descending the stairs. "This thing already started?" She whispers and Damon nods as he looks around the room. "Do you see Stefan?" Adele takes a quick look around. "No. Isn't he Elena's escort?" Damon nods once again. "He's been having some trouble with urges lately. He must've bailed."

"Elena can't come down without an escort waiting for her." Damon gazes over at her. "What do you suppose we do?" Adele gazes up at him and he can practically see the wheels turning in her pretty head. "Miss Elena Gilbert and her escort Stefan Salvatore." Adele glances up at Elena coming down the stairs, noting the nervous expression she is trying hard to hide before pushing Damon slightly forward and he looks back at her. "Go." She mouths and he nods slightly taking the spot where Stefan was supposed to be standing.

Elena's eyes meet hers and she sends her sister a reassuring smile before disappearing out the door to stand next to her Aunt and Alaric Saltzman. "Adele!" Jenna practically shirks and Adele smiles at some of the people who stop to look at them. Jenna's attention is pulled to Elena and Damon as they walk past. "Why is she with Damon?" Alaric looks just as shocked as he mutters an I don't know. "Stefan bailed." Adele mummers as she watches the two take their place. _Don't they look so perfect together? You know you wish that was you with him._

Adele swallows thickly. What's up with the sudden voices? _And to think if you stayed that could be you with Damon, not Elena but he prefers it that way. She looks like Katherine after all. Look at the way there looking at each other. You can't even compare_.

Adele turns away slightly, narrowing her eyes at the floor. "Adele?" Adele's head jerks back up to look at Alaric who gives her a look of concern. "Are you alright?" She nods giving him a tight smile. "I just need a drink. I'll be back."

~x~

But she didn't go back, not when the voices wouldn't shut up. They were starting to give her a head ache and all she wanted to do was lay down and go to sleep, maybe then they would stop. She avoided everyone until nightfall came around and she was able to slip out side without being noticed.

_You're mad and you know it. Stop fighting the truth and just accept that nobody will ever love someone who's crazy._ Adele shuts her eyes tightly and clinches her fist, her nails leaving deep indents in her palms. _What kind of person can't feel? You're parents are dead and you don't even care. He's dead and you don't care. You killed someone and you don't care. What's wrong with you? Nobody will ever love someone as fucked up as you. _"Stop!" She breaths places her hands on each side of her head.

Opening her eyes she looks around. Nobody was out and she thanked who ever would listen because she could only imagine the sight that they would see when they looked at her. She jumps slightly at the distant sound of a scream from the woods and frowns. Before she can register what was going on she running towards the sound. Anything would be a good distraction from the voices.

As she approaches the noise she skids to a halt at the sight before her, her eyes widening slightly. "S-Stefan?" Her voice comes out in a breathless whisper but loud enough for his sensitive hearing to pick up and he throws the practically lifeless form to the side as he turns to her and she can't help but gasps at the sight of him with his fangs bared and blood dripping from his chin. It all became clear to her that he had attacked that girl. Stefan Salvatore who was completely pro for the bunny diet had attacked a human girl. She wasn't sure what was more frightening the blood thirsty look in his eyes or the fact that it was just now accruing to her that he was just as if not more dangerous than Damon.

With a shirk she grips the arm that wraps itself around her midsection to turn her away from the scene and she's soon facing Elena and Bonnie as the arm lets her go. Turning back she's met with the sight of Damon's shirt clad back as he moves towards Stefan. "Stefan come on. Get control."

He reaches Stefan only for Stefan to push him away into a tree not too far from them and she gasps sharply at the sound of the impact. Everything was happening so fast she could barely make since of what was going on as Elena yells out Stefan's name and he stops turning to look at them slowly coming back to them before realizing what he had done and taking off in a rush leaving them all standing there.

Damon turns to look at them looking over each one of them before his blue eyes rest on Adele who is staring at the place Stefan had just been standing. _The only reason you want to leave Mystic Falls so bad is to escape but you'll never escape. They will follow you, where ever you go. He made sure of that when he fell for you. Damon Salvatore is no better; he'll only make it worse. _

Damon notes the horrified expression on her face as he steps towards her and her eyes snap over to him, wide and vibrate with fear. _Look at them, look at what they do. There monsters and you're no better than them if you protect them._ He takes another step towards her. _Don't let him get close, he'll only break you. _

Adele takes a sudden step back as he takes another step towards her; he's so close to standing in front of her. "Adele…" She shakes her head, her breathing coming in short pants as fear grips at her chest. She doesn't want to be afraid of him, but she is. At that moment she is very afraid of him.

Damon takes another step towards her coming to stand directly in front of her and she jumps stumbling back so fast she almost trips but he reaches out catching her arms to steady her and she gasps suddenly struggling against him and he lets her go, surprised as she turns around and runs from him.

She runs from the woods, and away from the Lockwood manor, regretting her decision to ride with Damon over because there was no way she was going back to that house to find him. There was no freaking way.

~x~

Damon slams the door successfully locking Stefan in the same room he used to lock him up in, it was for the best. It was the only way they we're going to save him. The only way they were going to drive him off human blood and back to his bunny diet. He turns looking down at Elena who had been the one to inject the vervain into Stefan allowing them to lock him up without a very messy and bloody fight. "There's no guarantee that this is going to work." Elena nods slightly, willing the tears away. "It has to." She slides her back down the wall directly across from the massive door and Damon turns back to look at her. "Coming?" Elena shakes her head. She wasn't going anywhere with Stefan locked up.

Damon nods before sliding his own back down the wall across from her. "Can I ask you a question?" He mutters and she nods. "Why was Adele so afraid of me tonight?" He couldn't get the sight of watching her run away from him out of his mind, or the look of fear twisting into her beautiful features and consuming the emotion in her eyes.

"Stefan said it would happen. She's getting worse Damon."

~x~x~x~

**Blood Brothers**

Damon watches from over his shoulder as Elena leaves the room, ready and on her way to school before he turns his attention back to the pocket watch in his hand. While he could pretend to be completely focused on the pocket watch, his mind was still trying to make sense of Adele. It had been a few days, maybe three since that night she ran away from him and he still couldn't figure out why she had ran.

It wasn't like he could get the answer from her seeing as she made it very clear she didn't want to talk to him by ignoring all his phone calls and texts, so he did his best to keep her out of his mind but it proved to be nearly impossible as he picks up his phone once again to look at the time, though he had checked the time 2 minutes ago.

Fed up with her games, he slams the watch down in frustration pulling up another text screen and typing in a very fast and easy message before sending it off to her.

_We need to talk. Soon._

Surely she will respond now, but he wasn't getting his hopes up not with this being the 10th message he sent her between last night and now and she had failed to reply to any of the others so why should she start now?

~x~

Her phone vibrates harshly in her back pocket as she's making her way into Alaric's classroom and she slips it out her steps slowing as she sees it's another message from him. _Put the man out of his misery and at least read this one. Reading can do no harm. _She tells herself but there's that voice still present telling her that even reading what he has to say was involving herself to much with him and she's left to argue with herself in the safety –if you could even call it safe– of her own mind.

She's pulled from the argument though as Alaric calls her name gently and she looks up realizing she was early, seeing as there was no one in the room yet. "Yeah?" She mutters as she places her bag on the last desk to the left in the third row. "Do you have Damon's number? I have something I would like to share with him but I have no way of reaching him."

To distracted to care what it was he was wanting to share Adele nods giving him the number as she pulls her notebook from her bag and Alaric notes that she didn't even have to look down at her phone to give him the number though the thought leaves as quickly as it comes as he stares at the young girl sitting at her desk, he could tell something was bothering her but what?

She sits down staring at her phone once again. She needs to open the message. It was the 10th unread message she had from him. She bites at her bottom lip as she quickly opens the text before she was able to be talked out of it and sighs as she reads it.

It was true, they did need to talk. It had been a few days since she'd last seen him –without being afraid– and she hated to attempt it but she missed him. She was just worried that if she went to see him the fear would come back. She didn't like being scared of Damon, it left a bad taste in her mouth. Damon was the one person she was sure she could completely trust and if she was scared of him how was she supposed to feel even slightly comfortable around anyone else?

She types a quick reply, making up her mind to go and talk to him. _I'll come by after work. _

~x~

When she does arrive at the boarding house it was close to 9 and she finds Elena curled up in one of the leather chairs writing in her diary. "What up sister?" She mutters plopping down onto her back on the couch as Elena places her pin in her diary setting it a side. "Are you ever going to tell me where you ran off to?"

Adele sighs softly. "You remember Hanna?" Elena nods her brows furrowing slightly. "Yeah, she loved you when she was still here." Adele nods. "Yeah we'll she called and asked if I wanted to come up to Duke for a while and I said yes. That is where I went."

"Well Carol was pissed. She had this whole vision of you in the Founders Court with Damon as your escort. She even had your dress picked out. I tried explaining that you we're with Bruce but she would not listen."

"Yeah, I'm not really with Bruce anymore. It's a long and boring story that I would rather not get into at the moment." Though Elena wants to know what happened she doesn't press. She and Bruce looked good together, it was a shame that they couldn't work out and not only that but it kept her away from Damon.

"God your still here? Oh and look who decided to show up." They both turn to look at Damon as he makes his way into the room and over to the couch where he lifts up Adele's legs before flopping down and resting her legs in his lap. "We're you expecting anything else?" Damon shakes his head. "No." Adele smiles softly at him as he turns to look at her.

"How was the errand?" Damon rolls his eyes over to look at Elena. "Horrible, though I think I witnessed a teacher having a crisis." This causes Adele to laugh as she snuggles back into the couch.

"Has Stefan eaten yet?" Elena raises her eyebrows a small smirk forming on her lips as she looks at Damon. "I thought you didn't care?"

"More of a curiosity." Adele rolls her eyes, he cares. Everyone knows he cares no matter how hard he tried to hide it. "I think he's getting there, but he has a lot of guilt that he has to deal with. It doesn't help that you spent the last 145 years punishing him for Katherine getting caught." She sighs looking over to her sister. It didn't help to be bitter either. _You should be dealing with guilt. What makes you so special?_

"So this is my fault now?" Adele shakes her head. "No it's not." She mummers quietly but they both heard her as they glance at her. "But you're not exactly innocent." Elena mentions and Adele huffs. It wasn't Damon's fault Stefan had a blood problem at least that's what Adele thought.

"It's been your life mission to make him miserable." Damon looks at Elena with something along the lines of disbelief in his icy eyes. He runs his hand up and down Adele's calf softly as if to calm himself down. "Let me ask you a question. In all this important soul searching and cleansing of the demons of Stefan's past did you ever mange to get the rest of the story?"

Elena sits up to get a better look at him; it was clear to both of them just how annoyed he now was. "He said there was more." Damon looks at her for a long second before nodding. "Yeah that's an understatement." He goes to stand but Adele reaches out to grab his hand causing him to pause and look down at her. "Tell us." He studies her silently, watching as the fire from the fire place cast shadows over her face and lights up her eyes.

He nods before going over to grab a class of Bourbon and sitting back down next to her as she places her legs back in his lap. He starts by catching Adele up on Katherine getting caught and how their father was the one to kill them, which leaves Adele somewhat shocked.

He then goes on to tell them the rest, the part Stefan had left out when telling the story to Elena. How Stefan had come to him with a girl telling him that he had fed from their own father and how it was amazing what he could do before all but forcing Damon to feed on the girl. "The moment Stefan tasted human blood he was a different person. Though I guess I should thank him, it's been a hell of a ride."

Elena looks on completely shocked. "Oh my god, he said he wanted to die. That's why he won't feed; now I understand why but…" Damon shrugs glancing down into his now empty glass. "His choice, he was stupid enough to make it. So be it."

"Don't do that! Don't pretend like you don't care." With that Elena pushes off the chair and scatters from the room leaving them to stare after her. "Where is she going?" Damon mutters as he turns to look at Adele who shrugs in response.

Placing the empty glass on the table next to them Damon turns his full attention to Adele. "We need to talk." She nods slowly. "Okay…"

"At the Founder's Court…you we're scared." She nods pulling her legs from his lap and sitting up. "Stefan was out of control. I've never seen him so out of it."

"I can understand that but what I can't understand is why you were scared of me." Her eyes widen slightly as she pulls her knees up to her chest. "I-I wasn't…scared of you Damon."

"Yes you were. You ran from me." Swinging her legs from the couch, Adele stands smoothing out her top. "It's not like it matters. You've said it yourself. You love that people are afraid of you." Damon stands, catching her wrist before she can walk away and she turns to look up at him.

"It does matter. You're not supposed to be afraid of me. I can't stand the thought of you being scared of me." His hands move to rest lightly on her small waist as he searches her blue eyes for any trace of the fear he saw that night. "You can't be scared of me…"

"Why does it matter?" She whispers not trusting her voice as he leans forward to rest his forehead against hers. "It just does. I would never hurt you." She inhales sharply. "You don't know that." Her heart is pounding and she knows he can hear it but at this point she doesn't care. Every part of her was tingling and all she wanted to do was pull him closer as she rests her hands on his chest, feeling the soft material of his sweater beneath her fingers. "Yes I do." He mummers as he closes his eyes and she knows what he's planning and her breathing hitches slightly, her lips parting as she looks at him. She wants him to kiss her so much it almost hurts. _Don't let him fool you. He only wants Katherine. _

She gasps softly not wanting to listen to the voice in her head but knowing it was right. He had mentioned it on many occasions and she was only fooling herself if she thought he was just going to forget about her.

She pushes against his chest lightly causing him to back up and he opens his eyes in surprise to look at her. "I'm sorry…I can't do this." And she's gone once again, running from the room and he listens to click of the door as he clinches his jaw glancing down at his empty glass on the table. In all his frustration he barely realizes when he picks up the empty glass and chucks it against the far wall causing it to shatter.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Previews for the next Chapter:<strong>_

**The twins agree to meet with Isobel. **

**Elena goes to Bonnie for help on the device and she gives her news on Adele.**

**Isobel gives Adele a shocking realization. **

**Stefan and Elena decide it's time to help Adele.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Here is chapter 15, now you will notice a huge change from the other version in this chapter and I mean it's a pretty big change. I hope you enjoy this chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

**I'm thinking another three reviews for the next. (More works as well) (: **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 15: Isobel<strong>

Adele groans loudly as she is woken from a not so peaceful sleep when her phone blares loudly from the nightstand. Glancing at the neon numbers on her alarm clock she sees it's only 8 in the morning and Saturday. "You have got to be kidding me." She mutters to herself and reaches out in the darkness of her room to snatch her phone up. "Caroline. Why am I surprised?" She asks herself sitting up and leaning back against the headboard while sliding the green button over on her IPhone screen. "Hello?"

"Apparently you we're supposed to be at the school 30 minutes ago." Adele sits up, her back straightening in surprise and she pulls the phone away to look at the name once more. Yeah it was diffidently Caroline's cell phone. Pressing the phone back to her ear she frowns. "Excuse me?" She asks just wanting the mystery person on the other end to say something else. The voice sounded familiar. Too familiar but she couldn't place it. "Caroline is going out of her mind, I'm worried she's about to have a heart attack."

Adele's eyes widen, that low and alluring voice could only belong to one person. "Mikey?" She all but shirks into the phone. "The one and only." He laughs, that oh so familiar laugh that use to make her weak and by god if it still didn't have a little bit of an effect on her. "Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!" She jumps from the bed and races to her closet, pulling out the first pair of jeans she finds and the first t-shirt she sees. "By your reaction I take it you're happy to hear from me?"

"Where are you?" She asks as she applies deodorant and body spray. "At the school watching Caroline run around as if she had lost her head." Adele shakes on her jacket after putting on a necklace and a bracelet, before rushing into her bathroom. "Stay right there. I mean it, don't fucking move." With that she hangs up with the distant sound of his laughing as she rushes to brush her hair and teeth.

Elena is somewhat shocked to see her sister running down the stairs as if there was someone chasing her. "What are you doing?" She asks and Adele waves a hand in the air brushing her off. "Can't talk, I got to go!" Elena barely makes out what she had said before she's gone the front door slamming behind her. What the hell was wrong with her?

~x~

When she had pulled up to the school the first thing she had noticed was that the school was unusually busy for a Saturday morning. The second thing she noticed was a slick black 2009 Kawasaki Ninja 650r parked in a space at the front of the school and she grins widely. The only person she knew that rode a sports bike in Mystic Falls was Michael.

Parking her Mustang in the first available spot she finds, she can't seem to make it into the school fast enough. She's pushing past students and taking corners sharply until she reaches the cafeteria she bust through the doors and a few people stop to look at her as her eyes search the cafeteria for his head of messy blonde hair. "Short stuff!" Whipping to the right Adele almost screams. "Mikey!" She takes off in a full out run as he laughs throwing the heavy history text book to the ground with a loud bang.

She jumps, throwing herself into his arms wrapping both her arms around his neck and her legs around his lean waist. There wide public display of affection as the everyone in the cafeteria staring which wasn't anything new for the two of them having displayed affection much worse than a simple hug in much more public places before.

"Cut it out you two! You're distracting my workers!" The two turn their heads to look at Caroline with wide eyes and Caroline who by the look on her pretty face was fuming grabs ahold of the back of Adele's leather jacket and yanks her to the ground and Michael drops her letting her fall to her feet. "And you missy we're supposed to be here 45 minutes ago!"

Caroline had spotted Michael the moment he walked through the cafeteria doors following behind a short blonde who was saying something to him and seemed a little to excited that he was actually acknowledging her but as Caroline looked more closely she had noticed the distant look in his seemingly black eyes and the way he chewed almost nervous like on his thumb nail as he looked around at the people walking by looking back at him.

It was no secret that Michael Landon was if not the most popular then one of the most popular guys in school. He was good looking, extremely good looking at that with his tussled blonde locks and dark intense stare.

He stood somewhere around 6'3, some would say he was unusually tall for being Junior and fit. Man was he fit. His navy blue V-neck was fitted tight around a broad and hard chest and Caroline knew from years of knowing the guy he was sporting a nice well defined six pack under the shirt. His jeans were loose fitted and straight legged but still hugged him nicely, along with a pair of motorcycle boots and his infamous leather jacket which was worn by the years it had seen and was slightly faded but man did he make it look sexy as hell and not to mention his serious love for music also had girls falling all over him.

She had walked right up to him after the shock that he was actually here had worn off and shooed away the girl all but trying to throw herself at him and he had snapped out of his self when he realized she was standing in front of him and more importantly that he had stopped moving. "Looking for someone? Maybe a certain blonde?" She had asked right out and Michael had shaken his head quickly but after a moment of staring at him he had nodded and she had smirked.

That was the moment in which she let him use her phone to call her telling him that she was 30 minutes late and just like that Adele had shown up not even 20 minutes later and thrown herself at Michael. Adele had been distant with everyone and Caroline had noticed she was even distancing herself from Damon who had been the man she was with 9 times out of 10 since she showed back up in town but leave it to Michael to be the one to yank her back from with-in herself.

"I'm sorry Caroline. I over slept." Caroline sighs running a hand through her blonde hair as she looks to her best friend. Adele had dark bags under her eyes and her complexion was a bit on the pale side, it also looked as if she had lost a few pounds which is strange. Adele ate everything. You could sit a plate of fries in front of her and she'd claim she wasn't hungry but give it a minute and half the plate would be gone.

"It's okay, you're here now and now we have to get to work."

~x~

Adele now seated at a table near the middle of the cafeteria, a sketch book in hand and she was doodling, with the idea of "A southern classic elegances." Or as anyone who knew Caroline would say, "Gone with the Wind." Michael sat next to her writing away in a note book, along with Music he had a thing for writing and this was a very familiar scene with the two. Adele drawing in her sketch book while Michael writes, they had spent many nights locked away in Michael's one bedroom apartment doing just this without so much as two words said between them.

As a shadow falls over Adele, she stops her doodling to look up behind her. "Mr. Saltzman. What a nice surprise to see you here at school." Her snarky comment goes unnoticed by Alaric as he glances down at her doodles and is impressed. Whatever she came up with was going to be good, he could tell. "We need to talk."

"We do?" She mutters as she continues to doodle. "Yes. Elena and Stefan are waiting in my classroom and Damon is on his way." Adele rolls her blue eyes before shrugging a shoulder. "Fine but this better be good."

~x~

Adele is once again doodling in her sketch pad having brought it with her, she found it as a good diversion from all the sudden tension that had quickly filled the air when Alaric had informed them that Isobel had paid him a visit last night and was asking to meet with the Gilbert twins. It wasn't till Damon walks in that someone finally speaks.

"Damon…Thanks for coming." Damon gives Alaric one of his lopsided smirks. "Sorry I'm late, dog ate my…" Stopping for a moment his smirk widens. "Never mind." Turning he takes in all of them, from Elena's blank and unmoving stare at the chalk board and Stefan's worried expression to Adele drawing fiercely in a sketch pad clearly trying to avoid something.

Adele can feel the heat of his eyes on her but she refuses to look up. Thinking about Damon was hard enough as it is, she wasn't sure she could stare at him to long without cracking under his gaze. Nothing had been the same for her since that night he almost kissed her. Her mind was slowly rolling away from her and all her attempts to stop it just brought on failure and frustration. The voices we're louder and persistent, reminding her of just how messed up she was and the guy she'd been seeing, that nobody else could see, he was always there, following her around like a freakin' puppy wanting nothing more than all her attention.

"What's with all the furrowed brows?" He finally asks breaking his eyes away from Adele to look up at Alaric. He'd be an idiot not to notice how thick the tension in the room was. "I saw Isobel last night." Suddenly it made sense. Here he was thinking it was him Adele was trying to avoid with scribbling so hard on that piece of paper but it was truly just the tension she was trying so hard to ignore.

"Isobel is here? In town?" Alaric nods and Damon already knows that there's more that they have to tell him, more than just Isobel being in town that was causing so much distress for everyone in the room and his eyes find the blonde across the room once again. She still won't look at him but he didn't care, not at the moment anyways.

Damon crosses the room to stand by the wall of windows and it was clear that everyone was waiting for him to say something, waiting for him to make the first move. So he turns back to Alaric after a moment of gathering his spinning thoughts.

"Did you ask about Uncle John, are they working together?" Alaric shakes his head. "No." Damon walks forward once again. "No there not?" Alaric looks down at him seeing as Damon was a few inches shorter than him. "No I didn't ask."

"What about the invention?" Alaric shakes his head again and he can see the growing frustration in the man's eyes. "Didn't ask."

"Does she know about the tomb vampires?" Alaric crosses his arms as he leans back against his desk. "I don't know." Finally fed up Damon snaps. "Did words completely escape you?"

"I was a little too distracted by my dead vampire wife to ask any questions." Alaric snaps back and Damon turns away for a moment gathering his composer before turning back. "What did she want?"

Nobody says anything and it was then Adele looks up at him. "She wants to see us Damon." Elena speaks up and Damon frowns. That is just what he hoped they wouldn't tell him. "Alaric is supposed to arrange a meeting, we don't know why or what she wants." Damon's gaze snaps over to Adele just to be surprised she is looking back at him. Stepping forward his gaze never wavers from hers. "You don't have to see her if you don't want." Adele shrugs a shoulder hugging her sketch pad close her. "I don't really have a choice."

"She's threating to go on a killing spree." Damon glances back at Alaric and blinks a few times. Anger was threating to boil over but he covers it up with a snarky question. "Oh...I take it that's not okay with you guys?" He hears Adele scoff and turns to watch her shift. "I wanna do it. I want to meet her. I know if I don't I'll regret it." Adele pushes off the desk she was leaning against. "I don't want to meet her, but I guess I have no choice. Call me with the when and the where until then I'll be drawing."

~x~

Elena sits nervously looking around for any sign of her sister but she wasn't there at least not yet. Elena was shocked when she arrived and Adele wasn't there but with a quick texted she found out Adele was stuck at work but she promised to be there when she could get over there so Elena wasn't worried…much. Her sister said she'd be there so she would be there.

Elena almost gasps at the sight of Isobel when the woman stepped in front of her view of Stefan and places her jacket on the chair next to them before taking a seat. "Hello Elena…" Isobel takes a long look around. "Where's your sister? I'm curious to meet both of you." Elena nods slightly and swallows thickly. "She'll be here. She's running late." Isobel grins slightly. "You look just like her. It's eerie. Does Adele look like you as well?" Elena shakes her head quickly. "No…you met Katherine?"

"She came to me after I turned. Genetic curiosity I suppose. She would be fascinated by you."

Elena turns her attention to Isobel's necklace. "Is that how you can walk in the day?" Isobel looks at the necklace with a look of awe before smiling at Elena. "Katherine helped me obtain it."

"Who's my father?"

"Not important. He was a teenage waste of space." Elena almost coughed at her bluntness but it wasn't because she was blunt that had caught Elena off guard, she sounded just like Adele. "A name would be nice." Elena responses quickly. "It would wouldn't it?" Yeah just like Adele. "You ask a lot of questions."

"Why did you compel that man to kill himself after he told me to stop looking for you?"

"Dramatic impact, I wish it would've been more effective." Elena is struck by disbelief. "Human life means that little to you?" Isobel smiles. "It means nothing to me. It's just part of being what I am."

"That's not true, I know other vampires."

"You mean your boyfriend over there by the pool table? Stefan Salvatore. Why Stefan? Why not Damon?" Elena glances around begging silently for her sister to show up. "Oh that's right…Adele got to him before you could and I hear he's quite smitten."

~x~

Adele shoves her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket as she walks through the doors of the grill. She didn't want to do this, she wanted to turn around and go home but she had promised Elena she'd be there so here she was walking into the grill with grease stained hands and the smell of motor oil all over.

She had stopped by at work hoping to be able to pick up her pay check and make a quick escape but as luck would have it, Mark needed help and the only person in the shop at the moment due to a lunch break was her, so she had gotten stuck.

Spotting Elena and the woman across from her, Adele sighs. _Here goes nothing. _She thinks to herself before quickly making her way over, her boots making no noise as she does and she catches just the end of what Isobel is saying. "And I hear he is quite smitten." Pulling the chair back across the floor seems to make them both jump in surprise and Adele plops down in the chair. "Sorry I'm late." She mutters as Isobel looks her over completely. "Adele…" She breaths slightly and Adele turns to her. "Way to state the obvious. I'm guessing Elena asked her fair share of questions now it's my turn. What do you want?"

Isobel doesn't know exactly what to think at this moment. Here Elena was, across from her, one of the babies she had given birth to and there was no mistaking the hint of fear and uneasiness about her but then there was Adele sitting next to her, the other baby she had given birth to that day who was looking at her with cold blue eyes and there was no hint of fear no hint of her being completely uncomfortable. The two we're so different it was almost laughable.

"I want what you're uncle wants, Jonathon Gilbert's invention." Adele smiles tightly. "How do you know our uncle?" Elena asks before she can say anything. "I use to spend a lot of time here when I was younger. John had a crush on me for years; he was the first one who told me about vampires."

"So what made you want to be one?" Adele looks at Elena. It was her time to ask the questions and she was getting annoyed that Elena wasn't allowing her to do so. "It's a long list of reasons." She looks between them. "All of which I'm sure you thought about." Elena shakes her head but stays silent. "Never." Adele smiles at her biologic mother.

"That was your first lie. It's easy." She speaks to Elena first.

"You're going to get old and Stefan's not. Forever doesn't last very long when you're human and…" Isobel looks at Adele next. "You're just like me, I can tell. It'll come to you." Adele smirks and leans forward with her elbows on the table. "That's were your wrong. I'm nothing like you. I have a life ahead of me and I intend to live it, unlike you who was just a vampire groupie who had nothing to look forward to, nothing to do with your sad life. You're pathetic and by the way, we don't have what you're looking for and even if we did, we wouldn't give it to you." Adele stands and grabs a hold of Elena's arm pulling her up as well

Adele narrows her eyes at Isobel's hand wrapped tightly around her wrist. "Sit down, and tell your sister boyfriend to step back." Adele scowls and sits down. Elena nods at Stefan as her way of saying everything was fine and he backs up. "I want the invention." Adele rolls her eyes leaning back in her chair. "Can you not hear or are you just slow? Either way I'll break it down for you. We. Don't. Have. It." She smiles her patients with Adele running on thin. "I know that, but Damon does." Adele closes her eyes.

"And you're going to get it for me."

"He won't give it to us." Elena mutters and Isobel smiles widely. "Then the blood will be on your hands." Adele stands shoving her hands back into her pockets. "Something to pounder on Mother…I don't care." Adele grins down at the vampire before turning and walking off leaving Elena, Stefan and Isobel to stare after her.

~x~

Adele had lied. She had lied about not caring about the blood being on her hands. There was enough blood already on her hands, she didn't need anymore.

With that thought in mind she crosses the street quickly to meet up with Damon and Alaric standing across from the grill. Stopping in front of them, Damon can see quite clearly that she was in the middle of fuming while she looks up at them before looking back over to the grill only to look back up at them. "Something on your mind Kitten?" Looking at Damon Alaric shakes his head before turning back to the young blonde. "What happened?"

"She tried to sell me some shitty line about me being just like her. How one day I'm going to want to become a vampire. Who the fuck does she think she is? Trying to tell me who the fuck I am…." Grabbing ahold of her shoulders Damon bends down to look her in her blue eyes. "Calm down." She takes a deep breath as she looks back at him. "Okay. I'm calm." She mutters and he lets go. She straightens up before looking at them both.

"She wants Jonathon's invention. You know the one Pearl gave you, said if Elena and I don't get it for her the blood is on our hands." A look of pure misery flashes across her face before it's gone and replaced by anger and Damon is somewhat shocked that he even saw the slightest bit of misery weather she felt it or not it was still there which is a good sigh. They could hold off on telling her about the spell, at least for a little while longer.

"I don't need any more blood on my hands. I have enough as it is." Damon knows it's not good for her to be so angry because she is angry, very angry to the point he was positive it's be close to impossible to calm her down. "Kitten, don't worry. I'll handle it." Looking back up at him, she doesn't respond for a long moment. "Yeah…okay." She nods pushing some of her hair from her face.

"I'll see you later." She mutters after another moment before turning back and heading towards the Grill and her mustang. Damon watches her as she jogs across the street while pulling her phone from her jackets pocket. "Did she look…okay to you?" Damon glances at Alaric from the corner of his eye. "No." He attempts barely above a whisper.

~x~

He was utterly repulsed by the sight of her. While years ago when Isobel had come searching for him, he couldn't deny she was pretty with a pair of amazing eyes.

Now though it was taking everything in Damon not to kill her, not to rip her unbeating heart right out of her chest and for what reason? Adele Gilbert of course. The young girl has messed him up so much; he was willing to kill what he created just because it had upset her. She was in a fragile state of mind at the moment, a state of mind that in the end was going to kill her and he wanted to protect her from anything that would set her off. He wanted to lock her in a room and refuse to let her out just because it was becoming more and more dangerous for her to step out of the house but he couldn't do that. Adele wouldn't go for it so he needed to keep things like Isobel at bay.

"So this little invention…" He walks forward causing Isobel to brush past him. "What do you want with it?"

"Oh. Me personally? I don't want anything with it. I'm just doing what I'm told." She turns looking up at him as he invades her personal space but knowing Damon the way she did, she knows he doesn't exactly know the meaning of personal space not that she wanted him away from her anyways. "You know Damon; we're on the same side." She places a hand on his exposed chest as he slips a finger under her chin to lift her head up to him. "Oh yeah?" He snorts. "What side is that?"

"Katherine's." She answers without hesitation and shock alone allows him to slip up for a second giving her the chance to slip her hands up to his face. "She wants John Gilbert to have the invention and you know she's not happy when she doesn't get what she wants." Damon pushes her hands off him, not wanting her to touch him longer than necessary. "Why are you doing her dirty work?"

"Don't kill the messenger. We both know that you can't control Katherine. She does what she wants." Damon snorts once again, not only because it was true but because there's a hint of adoration in Isobel's tone. "So do I." He remarks and Isobel smirks up at him. "Oh really Damon, you do?" She steps closer once again only to try and hit him but he's fast, grabbing her wrist before she has a chance to make contact with him. "What should we do now?"

Looking up at him she sees his intentions and a small smirk forms on her lips as she laughs causing him to laugh as well. "Oh yeah…" She almost moans as she leans up. "Memory serves." She mutters and he kisses her, slow almost teasingly at first but she grabs at him pulling him closer to her before switching them quickly over to the couch where she straddles his waist and presses herself into him as his hands come up to her sides.

Before she realizes what's happening Damon breaks the kiss and moves them, practically throwing her to the floor where he wraps a large hand around her throat squeezing enough to cause pain before he lifts her head and slams it back into the hard floor. She wraps a hand around his wrist trying but failing to pull his hand away because while she was now strong with her new vampire status Damon still had _years_ on her.

"Now that I have your attention listen up. You do not come into my town and threaten the people I care about. Going after Adele? Bad move. You leave her alone or I will rip you to bits because I do believe in killing the messenger, you know why?" He bends down his lips hovering over hers before he whispers harshly, "Because it sends a message." Once again he slams her head back into the ground causing her to cry out softly and he thrives on the fear in her pretty eyes. "Katherine wants something from me? You tell that little bitch to come get it herself."

~x~

Elena slips into the classroom quietly after receiving a text from Bonnie asking her to meet her there. Bonnie glances up and smiles slightly as Elena closes the door. "Hey. Thanks for meeting me." Elena rushes across the room towards Bonnie worry clear in her brown eyes. "I wanted you to see this." Elena slows down as she gets closer, noticing the book opened on the table top.

"Is that Emily's spell book?" She asks although she knows the answer, she just wants to make sure. "I've been going through it since grams died." Bonnie answers as she takes a deep breath before looking down at the old book. "Check this out."

Looking down, Elena studies the picture careful while also reaching out a hand to run her finger along it. "That's the vampire compass."

Bonnie nods. "According to Emily Jonathon Gilbert never actually succeed an inventing anything. Emily secretly spelled them all with magic. The compass…" She turns the page, bringing the book to the page that explains the Gilbert rings. "Rings." She turns the page once more and Elena leans forward as if to get a better look. "The mystery device you told me about."

"Yeah, that's it. Well part of it. Damon only has the one piece." Says Elena as she glances from the book to Bonnie before looking back down to the book.

"Emily pledged her loyalty to Katherine, but she couldn't stand by and watch innocent people get killed." Bonnie explains. "This was the only way she could think of to help. To let Jonathon Gilbert believes he had actually invented these devices."

"Does it say what it does?" Elena asks as she searches the page, but she can't read a single word of what it says. Bonnie leans forward as well looking over the pages.

She stands up straight looking over to Elena is disbelief. "Are you sure this is what Isobel wants?"

Elena stands as well, frowning slightly at her best friend. "Yeah I'm sure. Why?"

"This is a weapon…against vampires." Elena's brown eyes widen as she looks at her. "What?" Bonnie nods as Elena looks back down at the book.

"I have to tell Stefan." Before she can run off Bonnie grips Elena's wrist tightly keeping the dark haired Gilbert twin in place as she tries to find the words to tell her what she's been dying to tell her for some time now.

"Wait…I should probably tell you this now." Elena nods carefully and Bonnie continues. "The spell on Adele is considered a dark magic." Elena nods again because Stefan had already explained everything to her. "There's a section in the book, a small section about dark magic and some of the easier spells that have little to no consequences for preforming them. The wall is one of them along with the spell to reverse it." Elena's eyes widen as she stares at Bonnie. "You mean…we can break the spell? We can save her?" Bonnie nods and Elena lets out a struggled breath her eyes welling up with tears. "Oh my god."

~x~

Adele laughs loudly as Michael almost drops the pieces of ply wood he's hosting up onto the bottom half of the float. "Holy…" He laughs slightly looking up at the blonde sitting on a cooler. "Thank you short stuff, you're laughing, it just helps me get these heavy pieces of ply wood onto this freakishly tall float." She shakes her head as she tries to stop her laugh. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You just look so funny trying to do it yourself."

"Need some help?" Turning his head Michael catches sight of Jeremy Gilbert. "Seeing as I can't get any help from your sister? It would be greatly appreciated." Jeremy laughs moving over to help him lift up the ply wood and slide it onto the float before jumping up and walking towards his sister. "What's up?" She smiles up at him bringing a hand up to block the sun from her eyes. "I was just wondering if you've heard from Anna lately? She won't return any of my calls, she won't even text me back."

Adele shakes her head. "No I haven't talked to her." Jeremy stares down at his sister and she raises an eyebrow at him. "What Jer?"

"Are you lying to me?" Standing up Adele tilts her head. "No. Why would I lie about having talked to Anna?"

"Because that's what you and Elena do. You lie. I know what Anna is and I know you and Elena know. Now do you have any idea where she is?" He snaps harshly and Adele's blue eyes narrow tightly into slits as she places her hands on her hips. "I don't like your tone _Jeremy. _I said I haven't talked to her and I haven't. I have no idea where your girlfriend is or why she isn't talking to you and no I'm not going to pretend I didn't know what she is because yes I do. Anything else you want to try and throw in my face?" She snaps back and Jeremy blinks.

He should've known better then to try this. Sure he just did it with Elena and Elena had cracked, calling after him as he walked away like she felt horrible for what she did but Adele…Adele wouldn't feel bad. Jeremy should've known. Adele raises an eyebrow when he doesn't respond. "No?" She steps closer to him, her face just inches from his and he swallows. "Then we're done here." She whispers harshly before pushing past him to go over to Michael.

A few moments later and Adele looks around trying to spot Jeremy. She didn't know where he was coming from but she didn't like it and she didn't like the fact he knew what Ana was. How had he figured it out? Anna must of told him.

She catches sight of Elena and much to her displeasure Isobel. "I'll be right back." She mutters to Michael who rises his hands in a "what the hell" gesture as he watches her walk away before shaking his head and smirking. "She never changes." He mutters before turning around.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Adele asks as she stops next to Elena and Isobel turns her eyes over to her. "I'm just informing Elena of the homework I've been doing on getting to know the people in her life. I've done some homework on you to. Let's see…" Turning back to Caroline Isobel sighs. "The girl best friend, she talks very highly of you, says you're like a sister." She than glances off to Tyler. "Tyler Lockwood, the guy best friend."

She searches the crowd until her eyes land on Michael who is still working hard on the float taking orders from Caroline without so much as a glare in her direction unlike the others who are glaring freely at her. "Michael Landon the ever so loyal ex-boyfriend who would still do anything for you. I have to say Adele…he is very good looking." Adele's jaw clinches as she watches the woman eye her loved ones. "We get it. You have nothing else to do with your life than stalk us but I have a feeling there's more motive behind you being here then to prove to us that, but we don't want to hear it. You need to get lost."

"No, cause you see I have friends here as well. You see that man over there standing next to Matt. He's very handsome." Both Elena and Adele turn to look and there inspecting Matt's work is a tall blonde man dressed as if he had just come from some rodeo, she had seen him once or twice though out the day walking around and now that she thinks about it he had been fairly close to Matt the whole time. "Wannabe Cordell Walker? What about him?"

Isobel looks up at Adele once again her patients running thin. "He's quite handy and notice that the axel is kind of rusted. It's very dangerous. All you have to do is apply a little bit of pressure and…" Adele doesn't look away from Isobel as Elena yells out looking towards Matt. She hears the crash and the scream Matt gives off and her eyes darken. The damn bitch. Elena tries to run over to him but Isobel catches her arm and Adele snaps.

Reaching out Adele grips Isobel's wrist tightly. "Let her go and do not touch her again." She whispers and Isobel looks at Adele somewhat shocked. "I think it's in your best interested to let me go."

"No I think it's in your best interest to state why you are here and let go of my sister. I'm not above making a scene." Isobel lets go of Elena's wrist but Elena doesn't move as she stares at her sister who lets go of Isobel as well. "You would expose me out here in the open, risking exposure for the Salvatore's as well?" A wild, untamed smirk graces Adele's lips. "Not exactly the kind of scene I'm talking about. What do you want?"

"This is all to show you how easy it is, to hurt the people you care about." Elena turns back to fully face Isobel. "You're doing all of this because of Jonathon Gilbert's invention?"

"Hand it over and the fun will stop."

"We already told you, Damon won't give it to us." Adele snaps at her and Isobel sends her a knowing smile, the anger and blood lust mixed in with something along the lines of affection in Damon's icy eyes when he had mentioned Adele's name in their last meeting flashing through her memory once again. "I think you underestimate how much Damon cares about you." Adele frowns stepping back. Damon was a bit of sore spot at the moment and she didn't want this woman throwing him in her face. "He'll kill you before he gives it up." Elena continues on.

"Is that before or after I kill your little brother Jeremy?" Both twins turn back towards the area Jeremy had once been standing to see he is gone. "Jeremy?" Elena calls with no answer of course. Adele is left breathless as she hears the rush of wind from behind her, knowing full well Isobel is gone. "Jeremy!" Elena calls again gaining the attention of Stefan. Adele wraps her arms around herself suddenly feeling cold.

~x~

Adele had disappeared. As soon as Elena turned her back Adele was gone leaving her not only to worry about Jeremy but to wonder where the hell Adele had gone off to why she felt it was apporite to disappear without so much as a warning when there little brother had been taken by their evil vampire mother.

After Elena and Stefan successfully track down Bonnie, her and Elena bring him up to speed on everything in the privacy of a class room where Elena also comes up with a plan for Bonnie to disarm the spell once they agree to get Damon to hand it over but Elena wasn't sure they'd be able to get it from him. Not without Adele present that is.

Calling Adele, Elena gets no answer the first time and she looks up at Stefan. "Where do you think she would go? Why would she even go anywhere with Jeremy in danger like this?" Stefan doesn't answer, he had been keeping a close eye on Adele the past week just to notice she was slipping away from them and fast. Elena shakes her head dialing Adele's number once again. Adele picks up on the third ring but she stays completely silent making a small shiver run down Elena's spine. "Where are you?"

"Behind you." Comes Adele's low and detached voice and Elena spins around to see she is standing at the end of the hall. "Holy…Adele please don't just disappear like that! Where did you go?" Adele walks towards them, her eyes running over the three of them carefully before glancing behind her bur there's nothing there. "Nowhere." She mutters and Elena frowns. "Nowhere? Adele…"

"Elena…" Stefan shakes his head lightly as he notices the faraway look in Adele's blue eyes. "We're going to see if we can get the device from Damon. Bonnie is going to disable it and we're going to give it to Isobel." Adele's eyes narrow slightly at her name. "Yeah. Okay." She mutters again before pushing past them and the three watch as she disappears once again. "She's…"

"Worse?" Elena offers Stefan and he sighs. "We need to do something." Elena smiles slightly up at him. "Bonnie found the reversal spell. She can do it." Stefan glances at Bonnie who nods. "Then we do it soon. I don't think we have much time."

~x~

"Absolutely not." Adele stands leaning against the wall next to the fire place watching the exchange before her. Elena had just explained to Damon that they need the device because Isobel has their brother. "But hear me out…" Damon shakes his head cutting Elena off. "I'm not going to give the device to Isobel, who well give it to John so he can turn around and kill me. Now I like being a living…dead person."

"But it will be useless. Bonnie will takes it power away." Elena argues but she might as well be talking to herself as Damon fires back with a, "I don't trust her." This causes Bonnie to shrug. "I can remove the original spell." Elena looks up at Damon with her hands raised. "John and Isobel will never know."

"No. I'll get Jeremy back my own way." Stefan rolls his eyes finally speaking up. "Really? How are you going to do that? Cause Isobel is a vampire and Jeremy could be dead the second you walk through the door." Damon looks at Bonnie, silent for a minute as he tries to find some way to convince them this is a bad idea. "Are you even up for this? I mean no offence, you're no Emily Bennett and Emily knew what she was doing."

"I've been practicing." Damon scoffs lightly. "It's not piano lessons Hunny." Bonnie steps up to Damon and tells him to name a book any book and Damon thinks for a moment before naming Call of the Wild by Jack London and Adele rolls her eyes. This is just wasting time. After a moment of complete silence a book from one the book shelves comes flying at Damon who catches it easily.

"Were doing this Damon, my way, we're wasting time. So give me the device." Damon looks from Elena to Bonnie. "I don't trust you, I tried to kill you." Bonnie smirks. "Your right, you can't trust me." Adele pushes off the wall then. "Damon, you can trust me." Elena says and Damon stares at her before turning away. He wanted to trust her, he really did but the last time he decided to trust her…

He hears Elena sigh before there's a hand placed on his shoulder and looking back he's only half surprised to see its Adele. "He's my brother Damon. We need to do this. Whether it's a good idea or bad idea, we need to do this." Damon tilts his head back to look at the ceiling. Fuck his inability to deny her.

Turning around to face her, he reaches into his pocket pulling out the device and holding it up to her. She stares at it for a moment before slowly taking it along with hooking her finger around his for a split second as she mutters a thank you before letting go and turning to Bonnie.

Walking over she holds the device out but before Bonnie can grab it Adele pulls it back. "Do not make me regret this." She whispers before handing it to her and Bonnie turns away.

She sits down on the couch watching as Bonnie sets the device down. She watches as if from far away as Bonnie focuses on just part of the device and how it soon hovers in the air before the fire in the fire place grows brighter and higher which snaps Adele back to realty as her eyes widen slightly at the sight of the fire. Panic, she feels panic at the sight of it, images she thought she would never have to see again threating to overtake her once again.

Stefan's eyes travel over to Adele sitting on the couch, she's staring at the fire a look of pure panic and fear twisted in her features. Bonnie had just finished the spell and he nods over to Damon. "Put the fire out." Damon gives him a weird look before his eyes travel to where his brother's gaze was and he walks over to the fire putting it out quickly and watches as Adele blinks a few times before catching there concerned looks. "I'm fine." She mutters shaking her head but Damon highly doubts she is.

~x~

Adele shoves her hands further into her jacket as the wind whips past her and Elena. They had just arrived in town square where they had agreed to give Isobel the device in return for Jeremy. The both of them stop looking around as they don't spot Isobel anywhere. Elena looks at Adele who shrugs. "Who knows." She mutters causing Elena to sigh.

The both of them jump slightly and turn as the wind rushes a little too quickly by them and they find Isobel standing there looking over the both of them. "Where's the device?" Elena crosses her arms as she glances at her sister who makes no move to say anything so Elena does. "Where's our brother?"

Isobel smirks as if finding Elena's question funny. "This isn't a negotiation, where's the device?" Adele blows out a breath of air. "Well we're making it a negotiation. Where's our brother?"

"Do you really think I came alone?" Turning the twins look over the two people standing behind them and Adele sighs closing her eyes for a moment. Did this woman seriously think her human minions we're going to scare them when they had _two _much older and much stronger _vampires_ then Isobel herself with them. Turning back Adele shakes her head at the vampire. "Do you really think we came alone?" Elena asks and it's Isobel's turn to turn around and watch as Damon and Stefan Salvatore stop a few ways back.

Turning back to her daughters Isobel sends them a tight smile. "For god sakes call home." Elena frowns slightly and Isobel rolls her eyes. "Call home and ask to speak to your brother Jeremy." A smirk graces Adele's lips, obviously this woman was not use to being showed up by the way she casts her eyes to the sky in annoyance as Elena pulls out her cell phone.

"Jeremy, are you okay?" Adele casts a glance to her sister as she speaks to Jeremy for a few seconds telling him they would be home soon and hanging up turning back to Isobel. "You we're never going to hurt him."

"No. I was going to kill him. Don't look for any redeeming qualities in me. I don't have any." Adele shrugs a shoulder. "Who said the qualities you have now we're any better than the ones you use to have? If you ask me you're just a dull worthless piece of vampire space that nobody would truly miss if you I don't know…dropped dead." Isobel looks at her and Adele's eyes widen slightly. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. That was incredibly rude of me. My _mother_ taught me better." Isobel's jaw clinches slightly. She'd be lying if she said that didn't sting at least a little.

"Anyways…you took a chance with Damon. How did you know he'd give me the device?" Isobel blinks at her and without hesitation she answers. "Because he's in love with you." Adele sucks in a breath, her eyes flying over Isobel's shoulder to look at Damon who has taken a surprised step back looking between Elena and Stefan who didn't look as surprised as Adele did. He was just trying to avoid looking at her and suddenly a lot of things made sense.

Adele looks back to Isobel just to notice she's holding out her hand and Elena is looking at her. Pulling the device out of her pocket Adele walks forward. "Now I wish your pathetic vampire existence well…" Adele places the device in her hand. "Now get the hell out of my town." Isobel sends the blonde girl a smile. "Goodbye Adele and just a small piece of advice as long as you have a Salvatore on your arm, your doomed, and same goes for you Elena. Katherine was smart she got out, and we all know, neither of you are Katherine even if one might look the part." Isobel pushes past Adele and Elena and while Elena watches her biological vampire mother walk away, Adele's eyes are trained on Damon who stares back at her.

Adele glances to the side as Stefan hugs Elena close to him before looking back up to Damon. Turning her eyes to the ground Adele takes a deep breath before turning around and walking the other way leaving Damon, Stefan and Elena to stare after her.

~x~

Damon slows to a stop in the door way looking between the three in the room. "I don't like this. I don't like her being here…" He points to Bonnie. "With the two of you and I don't like the looks on your faces. This whole scene right here just makes me think I should turn around and walk away right now."

Stefan sighs crossing his arms over his chest as he leans against the arm of the couch. "We're reversing the spell on Adele tonight." He informs Damon who stares at him not saying anything for a long intense moment.

"No. Absolutely not." Elena rubs her hands down her jeans as she stands from the couch. "Damon…"

"No." He snaps causing Elena to stop talking. "You're going to kill her!"

"This spell is going to kill her if we don't do something and now." Bonnie interjects stepping forward to stand next to Elena.

"It's out of our hands now Damon. This needs to be done." Says Stefan as he too stands up straight and Damon looks at them. He didn't have to like it but he knew they we're right. There was no denying Adele needs help. "What do you want me to do?"

"Call her. Tell her you need to talk, anything to get her over here." Damon curses as he pulls out his phone dialing her number.

~x~

She had just slipped on a hoodie over tank top after coming home and wanting to get out of the uncomfortable jeans when her cell phone buzzes from the bed and she picks it up staring down at the name flashing across the screen. Before she can talk herself out of it she answers the call. "What do you want Damon?" She whispers not trusting her voice.

"We need to talk." His tone is soft and she closes her eyes. "There's nothing for us to talk about."

"There's a lot of things for us to talk about. Be over here in 20 minutes or I will come find you." With that he hangs up and Adele sighs. Slipping her feet into flip flops she grabs her keys and makes her way from the room.

She drives slower than normal, trying to talk herself out of going over there but she knows Damon and she knows if she doesn't show up he will for sure come and find her.

She slips through the front door of the boarding house and enters the room holding not only Damon but his brother, her sister and Bonnie much to her surprise. "What…what's going on here?" She asks almost hesitantly slowing down to a stop in the door way.

Damon leans against the back of the couch as he looks up at her standing in the door way. It was obvious she was not planning on going out tonight in her short white fleece shorts and black hoodie, her hair pulled back into a high and messy pony tail. His eyes travel down to the ground as she looks at him causing her frown to deepen.

"We need to talk." Elena finally speaks up and Adele gazes at her. "About?"

"What's been going on with you." Stefan answers and Adele takes a step back. "I already told you…"

"We know what you said but you need to hear this." Elena explains and Adele shakes her head. "I don't _need_ anything." Turning around Adele begins her way towards the door but she's stop by Damon who comes up behind her and takes her wrist stopping her from walking any further. "Remember that deal we had? The one where I trust you in return for you listening to what Stefan had to say?" He whispers and she glances over her shoulder to him before sighing. "Fine." She whispers.

~x~

Her wide eyes are locked on Stefan as he explains to her what she didn't want to know in the first place, he explains to her everything about the spell about how it was blocking out memories and feelings and how it was driving her to insanity and how she was going to die at the hands of herself if they didn't let them help her.

"We have to break the spell, it's the only way." Adele is stunned and she stands turning away from them so they don't see the conflict cross her features. She had no doubt that what they we're saying to her is true and she doesn't want to die but she didn't want the memories. If someone had gone through all the trouble of taking them away, then obviously they weren't anything good.

"Adele…It'll be alright." Turning back to them Adele eyes her sister. "Did you guys ever stop to think that maybe just maybe there was reason for this witch to take away my memories?" Stefan nods. "Yeah but it's better for you to know what these memories are and to get past them."

"Maybe I don't want to remember them." Adele whispers her eyes wide and Elena stands back up. "You don't exactly have a choice anymore Adele. We're not willing to lose you." Adele's eyes turn to Bonnie who had been flipping through Emily's spell book while waiting for Adele to say something and she watches as she sits the spell book on the table next to a candle that she lights and Adele turns. "No." She snaps making a quick break for the door but Damon is faster, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her back against his chest before turning them to face Bonnie. "No!" Adele yells as she struggles against him and Damon closes his eyes while leaning into her ear. "Adele stop. It's going to be okay." He whispers but she doesn't listen. She struggles though it's useless; he's too strong for her.

She fights harder as Bonnie starts to read the words off the page quietly at first, as the flame of the candle grows and a fire starts in the fire place, the lights flicker above them and Bonnie's words get louder.

Adele tenses in his arms and stops fighting. Stefan and Elena watch as her blue eyes glaze over and Elena holds her breath as Stefan pulls her close.

Everything she sees from the room to the people in it melts away completely and is replaces by the day she got the call that her parents had lost control of the car and had driven off Wickery Bridge causing them to drawn. Adele can remember, she can remember dropping the phone and running out the house. She can remember driving to the bridge in a hurry but it was blocked off so she was forced to run, past the barriers but she can remember skidding to a halt at the sight of the car being pulled from the river and she can remember catching sight of the two body bags. She had screamed because she couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe the world would be so cruel as to take her parents away from her the way it did.

Damon closes his eyes tightly as she screams, a sound so filled with pain it broke his unbeating heart. The scream causes Elena to jump and Stefan tightens his arms around her. "She's starting to remember." He mutters into her hair and Elena bites her bottom lip looking at her sister shaking and crying in Damon's arms, knowing that she wasn't truly with them at the moment.

She's brought back to the funeral, she had her bags packed and waiting in her mustang because as soon as the funeral was over she was gone. She had made the decision two days before that she needed to leave. She couldn't be in town any longer, it was so unbearable. School had just gotten out anyways, so it wasn't like she was leaving anything unfinished. When the funeral ended she was left saying goodbye promising she would be back after summer. Elena had begged her not to go, Jeremy barely let go of her when she had hugged him, Jenna understood, Carol and Elizabeth had made her promise to be safe, Caroline was a mess and Tyler cried. She didn't' mean to upset anyone any more than they already we're but she just had to go.

She found herself in North Carolina where she met a girl named Jasmine and everything about her parents death had become more bearable to the point she almost didn't remember what happened.

Jasmine led her to Florida where she introduced her to River, William, Scotty, Daniela, and Tony. Tony in all his 6 foot glory was a man of almost complete perfection, at least in her eyes. His golden blonde hair was slightly over grown and messy as if he never put a brush through it. He had a pair of doe eyes that made her melt on the spot and just a glance at his perfect smile could make her blush fiercely. She had quickly fallen head over heels in love with Tony and he had fallen just as quickly for her. He even let her in on his secret. Tony was a vampire, William, Scotty, and Daniela we're also vampires and River and Jasmine we're witches.

Tony had started her on vervain along with teaching her how to kill a vampire and how to shoot a gun. He taught her how to make wooden stakes and bullets as well; he made her keep them in the trunk of her car. He spent every waking moment making her she was okay, killing anything or anyone he felt was a threat to her. He soon asked her to marry him and she said yes. She was never going back to Mystic Falls.

Damon followed her as she fell to her knees, holding her tighter to him as her sobs rocked her whole 5 foot 5 form. Whatever she was remembering was killing her inside and he feels the anger surge in him and he clinches his jaw as he looks up at his brother and Elena. This is why he didn't want to do this. He knew this would happen. "Are you happy now?" He finally snaps and Elena bares her head in Stefan's chest, her own sobs coming on more violently.

They we're happy and set to be married in December because Tony had always thought it would be cool to be married in the winter, somewhere where it snowed and Adele agreed because she would do anything for him and if that's what he wanted, he would get it. But everything, everything they had built in the months she had been there came crashing down when the hunters had shown up. They had surrounded the place and Tony had tried to make her leave but she wasn't going anywhere so he told Jasmine to hide her and that's what she had did. She had hid and watched the horrifying scene unfold through the closet door. She had watched the hunters kill River before moving on to William and then Danny and last Scotty before Tony had demanded Jasmine to get her and run.

They had almost made it out, had almost made it with Jasmine leading the way and Tony behind her, fighting off any and all hunters that stepped in there way with one hand locked with hers but he hadn't been able to do it. He had let out a loud curse and Adele had been yanked back a step which had caused Adele to turn and she screamed when she saw it. A hunter had successfully plunged a wooden stake through Tony's heart from behind. Tony's eyes had met hers one last time before he had fallen to his knees and Jasmine had pulled her out of the house Adele's hand slipping from his as she did.

Jasmine had ordered her to get in her car and drive but Adele had hesitated looking back up at the house now completely developed in flames. After Jasmine yelled at her a second time Adele had listened and she had gotten in her Mustang and drove away and as she drove the heart ache had stopped, the memories had slowly slipped away and all Adele knew was that she was going home.

Damon presses his forehead into her back as she shakes violently in his arms. It was taking everything in him not to rip out Stefan, Elena and Bonnie's throat for doing this to her, though he knew it wasn't their fault. He just needed someone to blame.

She killed someone, her brothers girlfriend and she had did it without blinking. She's adopted, and her birthmother was a heartless vampire by choice. Everything about her world in Mystic Falls as of now was a mess. Her eyes begin to focus, she begins to make out Stefan and Elena and she's aware of someone holding her, someone strong and warm and safe. Damon.

But she couldn't pay attention to it, she couldn't pay attention to anything because oh my god it hurt and she feels as though she is going to die which causes panic on top of it all.

She can't breathe, her chest is tightening and the walls are closing in. She's for sure she's going to die, there is no other way for this to end as she tries to breathe but she just…_can't._

"What's going on?" Elena asks, quickly stepping out of Stefan's embrace and towards her sister. Bonnie stand up as well. "She's having a panic attack! Damon do something!" She calls and Damon does, spinning her around in his arms but she can barely see him because it's getting hard to focus on any one thing.

"Adele...Look at me. Adele you have to focus. Focus on me." She does, she does look at him and she pulls all her attention to his eyes, his amazing icy blue eyes. "Breathe. Just breathe." He whispers and she takes a deep breath. Bringing his hands up, he brushes tears from her flushed cheeks though there is no stopping the tears from flowing. "It's okay." She shakes her head. "No…They're dead. They're all dead." She whispers brokenly and Damon wraps his arms around her small frame pulling her into him and she clinches to his shirt tightly baring her face in his chest as she once again sobs.

~x~

He places her carefully in her bed, after 10 minutes of crying into his chest she had either fallen asleep or past out, either way she was out and he pulls the covers over her before bending down and presses a small feather like kiss her to her forehead.

Before he has the chance to get out the door she calls his name and he freezes before turning back to look at her. "Stay…please." She whispers and he nods slowly as he makes his way back over to her as she scoots over allowing him to slip into the bed next to her. She turns and lays her head on his chest closing her eyes once again. He wraps his arms around her pulling her more tightly into his side. There's a moment of silence before she speaks again. "Thank you Damon."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Wee. There it is. Chapter 15 and Michael has already made his introduction into the story. For any of you who have read the old version you know that Michael didn't come in until chapter 18 but I wanted him more involved in this version and you will of course find out why later on. Now I'm thinking of doing two one shots. One to explain Adele's summer more clearly to you and one to let you get to know Michael and why him and Adele are so close, because this isn't his story so his background is clipped so I want to give you some Intel on his background story so you can get to know him better. Tell me what you think in the reviews, if you want me to I will.<strong>_

_**Thank you for reading. (: **_

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><p><em><strong>Previews for the next chapter: <strong>_

**Adele is focused to deal with the loss of Tony and the rest of them while trying to move on with her life.**

**The tomb vampires return.**

**John sets off the Device.**

**Caroline's life is suddenly in danger. **


	16. Chapter 16

**This is the last chapter of season one. Of course I'm going into season two so it isn't the last chapter of the story but we have officially finished season one with this chapter so I hope you enjoy and I am very aware that it is short and I'm sorry about that. **

**Two more reviews for the next. (:**

**P.S: I would really love to make a banner for this story but i'm not sure what website would be best. Can anyone tell me a good one?**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

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><p><strong>Chapter 16: Founder's Day<strong>

Walking down the hall Elena stops at her bedroom door and raises her fist to knock but hesitates. She has knocked on Adele's bedroom door every morning since Monday the day after they broke the spell but each time Adele hadn't answered her or made even the slightest of noises. The room is eerily silent like Adele isn't even in there though Elena knows damn well that she is.

Elena felt guilty, her sister is suffering, suffering with whatever it was that happened over the summer but there's nothing she can do about it because she doesn't know what happened. She hasn't got the slightest clue as to what her sister is going through because Adele hasn't left her room to let anyone know. She only leaves the room when she thinks everyone in the house is sleeping but Elena was never sleeping. She heard her sister creeping up and down the stairs at night.

Finally knocking Elena waits to see if there is a responds but isn't surprised when she doesn't get one. "It's time for school but I'm guessing you're not going. Adele…I just wish you would talk to me. I'm worried…I guess I'll see you later."

Adele listens to her sister's steps get further away as she stares at the wall in front of her. She felt...numb and completely broken. Now that the spell was broken she didn't hear any voices, she didn't feel crazy and she didn't see the invisible man anymore though she wishes she did because there was a reason he looked so familiar to her, it was because it was him. It was Tony but now he's gone and she was never going to see him again, all she had to remember him by was the ring and her memories.

She listens for the front door to close and when she hears it she closes her eyes. Alone. She was alone again and she welcomed it. She just wanted to be alone forever. She never wanted to leave her room again but her stomach has different plans. Adele doesn't get why her stomach insist on her eating when she could barely stand the sight of food. She didn't feel like it was necessary to eat at the moment.

Sliding off the bed she shuffles into the bathroom, stripping off her old raggedy t-shirt, sleeping shorts and underwear as she does. She starts the shower and waits for the water to heat up before stepping into the walk in shower welcoming the burn that comes from the hot water.

~x~

Saturday morning, Founder's Day Elena knocked on the door again and though Adele still didn't answer Elena was happy to hear movement from with-in the room. Elena just hopes that maybe her sister will come out today.

Adele pulls out a navy blue sweater from her closet and looks at it. Today is Founder's Day and Adele knows she needs to leave her room, knows she needs to get back out into the real world no matter how hard it might be. People would start to wonder and then people would start to come by looking for her and she didn't want people looking for her.

So she pulls on a pair of dark jean shorts over her black boy shorts before pulling on the sweater and searching through her closet for her only pair of all black All-Star converses. Once she has them on she slips on some jewelry before throwing her hair up into a messy bun using some necessary clips to keep some hair in place.

Looking at herself in the mirror Adele pulls at the sleeves of her sweater. God she looked horrible. Sighing she grabs her discarded cell phone, that she had turned off Monday morning and left off until now as she turns it on quickly before grabbing her car keys. Hopefully she won't regret this.

~x~

Adele pushes her way through the crowd of people gathered to watch the floats go by. She slows down to a stop as she spots Damon talking to Bonnie. She had tried to avoid thinking of Damon during her time locked in her room. Every time she did, she got butterflies, and her heart rate went up. She figured it was better to not think about him with a reaction like that, Damon is vampire. Losing Tony had almost killed her and he too was a vampire which was the sole reason he is dead now.

But there was no avoiding him now.

"I did it for Elena." Damon has to resist the urge to roll his eyes. He was trying to do a nice thing here by thanking her. "I know but I'm still very grateful…and for what you did for Adele. You saved her life so thank you. I owe you. Enjoy the parade." With that he turns and as he spots her, he freezes.

She's not standing too far away from him and he watches as she shifts from foot to foot pulling at the sleeves of her sweater as she looks back at him. Biting at her bottom lip she sends him a smile that doesn't reach her eyes as she gives him a small wave.

Walking up to her, he's able to get a better look at her face which is somewhat pale and she's sporting light circles under her tired eyes. Some strands from her messy bun have fallen and are hanging loosely around her face which brings him to notice that her cheekbones we're a bit more noticeable than they had been, indicating she had lost some weight, but she was still so beautiful.

"Hey." He whispers and she smiles again looking up at him. "Hi."

"How are you?" She sighs softly at the question.

"I'm not really sure right now. Ask me again later." She mutters and he nods.

"Walk with me?" Holding out his hand he watches as she bites at her bottom lip before placing her smaller hand in his.

~x~

Damon held open the door to the grill for her and she smiles up at him with a smile that this time does reach her eyes and it makes him smile back knowing that she was feeling a little better now than when he had first approached her and it was all because of him.

Maybe coming out of her room wasn't such a bad idea after all. Walking around town joking and talking with Damon had calmed her emotions down some, made it easier to think.

She lets him lead her across the Grill towards the bar but there stopped by someone calling her name and that someone just happened to be Elena.

Turning around Adele is almost crushed in a hug as her sister throws her arms around her. "I was so worried. How are you?" Adele nods. "I'm okay." Elena smiles softly. "Okay."

"But I really don't want to talk about it right now. It's…to fresh at the moment."

"I wasn't going to ask. I just wanted to make sure you we're okay." Adele nods, if she said she wasn't a little bitter towards her sister and Stefan for forcing her into that, that night she'd be lying but she was also somewhat thankful. She didn't want to forget Tony, she never wanted to forget him.

Turning her eyes to the side Adele catches sight of Tyler Lockwood, Caroline Forbes, Matt Donavon and Michael Landon and she smiles softly. "I'll be back." She mutters before making her way around her sister and towards them.

"Hey guys." All four pairs of eyes turn to hers, three pairs wide and one pair soft. "Look who it is, Miss MIA. Where the hell have you been?" Caroline crosses her arms as she snaps but Adele can tell by the smile lacing her lips she's not all that mad. "Hiding from you." Adele snaps back causing the four to laugh.

~x~

Adele laughs softly as she dugs her keys out of her pocket. "Alright, I'm leaving. I'll see you later Mikey." Mikey snorts shoving his hands into his pockets. "We'll see, you know if you don't disappear again." She makes a face at him causing him to laugh as she walks away. Adele had planned on going back to Damon after talking with the four of them for a bit but when she had turned around he was nowhere to be seen so she decided she'd just stick with them but half way through this thing Caroline, Matt and Tyler had disappeared as well leaving her and Mikey but she didn't mind. It was nice to hang out with him again.

Fiddling with her keys, she tries to remember where she parked her car as she catches the eye of one of the volunteers who is eyeing her up and down with the look of thirst in his eyes. Adele turns away with a shiver, because that was a creepy not to mention weird look he was sending her. She quickens her pace as she reaches the street.

Damon Salvatore wasn't one to freak out, he was the calm one, the one who kept a level head when shit went sideways and shit was diffidently going sideways but he's thinking clearly, completely clearly as he informs Alaric of the impending danger ahead before turning around just to find Stefan and Elena. Perfect.

Grabbing a hold of Elena's other hand, Elena looks up at him somewhat shocked, but she couldn't be too shocked because this is Damon and Damon can be weird sometimes. "What are you doing?" She finally asks after looking him over.

"Saving your life 15 words or less, tomb vamps are here, founding families are the targets get her out of here. Now." With that he lets go of her hand and rushes off in front of them. "Where are you going?" He hears Stefan call out. "That's more than 15 words." He shoots back before disappearing into the crowd. One down one to go. _Now where did the blonde Gilbert run off to?_ He thinks to himself.

The fireworks we're seconds from starting and oh my god he can't find her and he was starting to freak out. He didn't feel very level headed at the moment as he stops and closes his eyes trying and failing to listen for her. It was just too hard to make out any specific sounds in such a crowd place.

She couldn't have just disappeared into thin freaking air though at this point it would have been so much better if she had but it was impossible. He hopes she had left, maybe she had decided she wasn't ready to come out yet and went back home to lock herself back in her room for another week.

Calling her had failed because she wasn't picking up, most likely due to a vibrating phone in her back pocket and once again this place is crowed with two much noise. He wouldn't be able to stop worrying until he knows she's safe.

Adele makes her way back up the street. Her car was not down that way, so it must be the other way. Huffing she slows down slightly when she notices her sister and Stefan walking quickly away from the firework show until suddenly Stefan goes down clinching his head as Elena falls to her knees behind him.

Adele breaks out in a sprint to them dropping her knees in front of him. "What's going on?" She breaths. Elena shakes her head. "I don't know." Adele looks up spotting Alaric moving with-in the crowd. "Hold on." Getting up Adele runs to him grabbing him by the arm. "Stefan went down, help."

Alaric looks past her to see Stefan and Elena and the Deputy rushing towards them. "Oh crap." He mutters grabbing a hold of Adele's wrist and pulling her behind him as he crossed the street catching the deputy. "I got this one, there's one over there, take this. Go!" The deputy scatters in the other direction as they move forward, Alaric grabbing a hold of Stefan as they do and moving him down the steps and out of view.

"I don't know what happen, he just went down." Alaric nods as they reach the bottom of the steps. "He's not the only one; cops are grabbing everyone who went down, injecting them with vervain." Adele looks up at him, confusion written in her features. "What?" They let go of Stefan when they were a safe distance away and Elena looks back up the steps. "There rounding up the vampires." Adele's eyes widen as she too looks back up. "Their taking them to your families old building."

"It has to be the device." Says Adele as she looks back at them but Elena shakes her head.

"It can't be Bonnie dispelled it."

"Maybe she didn't." Alaric suggests and Elena still isn't convinced.

"No she did…we saw her."

Adele continues to stare up the stairs, not saying anything as she thinks, there is something there missing here…someone…

"No no…There right. Think about it. We asked Bonnie to deactivate a device that could protect people from Vampires." Stefan explains and Elena nods. "So we could protect you…" Adele's eyes widen, finally it clicked. "Damon…" She breaths out, her eyes widening even more.

Adele looks back down at them. "Where is Damon?" Alaric shakes his head. "I don't know I haven't seen him since this whole thing started."

"Can you get my brother? Take him home?" Alaric nods in agreement before taking off as Adele looks between the stairs to them. "We have to get Damon." Elena nods slowly as she looks at Stefan. "We will. Come on." Grabbing both their hands Stefan leads them back up the stairs.

~x~

Stefan stops them just across the street from the old family building. "I can hear them…the building is on fire."

"What?" Elena asks but Stefan and Adele are already half way across the street.

"Where is Damon?" Adele demands to her uncle as they come to a stop in front of him and he looks between them. "Where he should be, with the rest of them. It's over for Damon." Adele's stomach clinches in the most uncomfortable way as she looks back up at the building. "No, no, no." She whispers. "You're crazy." Elena snaps and John turns his attention to her. "Why? Because I'm doing what should have been done 145 years ago? I'm doing the right thing girls."

Adele grabs a hold of Stefan's wrist. "Come on. There's another entrance." Before John has the chance to grab her Adele is leading Stefan quickly to the side of the building, towards the utility door.

"Hey you can't go in there." Stopping behind Stefan as he reaches for the door they both gaze back at Bonnie. They ignore her as he rips open the door. "The fire will take you out." Stopping Stefan turns back to her. "He's my brother Bonnie."

"Screw you." Adele mummers back to Bonnie as she follows Stefan quickly into the building. It doesn't take them long to find the door for Adele has spent a good amount of time in this store as a child. When they come to it Stefan reaches for the handle but pulls back with the metal burns him. Adele looks at it for a second before pulling her sleeve down over her hand and grabbing the door knob twisting it and pulling it open, letting off a small scream as the metal from the knob burns the skin of her hand still exposed.

As the door opens Stefan is forced to pull her back, the fire close to hitting them and Adele freezes. Fire. Oh god fire. She did not think this through. But this is Damon and she already lost Tony and she was yet to get over that, she wasn't going to lose Damon to.

"Stefan what do we do?" He swallows as he looks around for anything to help them. "I don't…" He trails off as they watch the fire slowly decreases to only the sides of the stairs and Adele darts down them without a seconds thought with Stefan on right behind her. "Damon!" She calls and he looks up. She reaches him helping him to stand up and he clinches to her, knowing if he let go he'd fall. Stefan reaches them as well, grabbing them both before pushing them towards the stairs and when he figures they won't make it he pulls them closer and runs full speed causing Adele to yelp.

Stefan slams the door to the basement closed as Adele turns, looking Damon over completely. "You're okay." She whispers before wrapping her arms tightly around his neck as he wraps his arms just as tightly around her. Pulling back slightly Adele searches his eyes. "You are okay right?" He leans forward after studying her worried expression; his lips brush hers softly as he mummers, "I'm fine."

"Guys we have to go?" Both of them turn to look at Stefan, Damon glaring slightly. Adele jumps as something crashes in the basement and she turns to look at Damon as he looks back at her, his eyes as wide as hers. "Yeah, let's go."

~x~

Running out the door, the three of them sigh in relief leaning into each other as Elena comes over to look them over, checking if each one was okay. Damon looks up at her silently before gazing over to Adele whose blue eyes are locked on Bonnie standing over to the side. If looks could kill, Bonnie would be digging her own grave and crawling into it right about now.

"I got to call the fire department." Adele mutters a few minutes later when Damon as the strength to stand on his own. He watches as she walks away her cell phone to her ear and he can hear the beginning of the conversion as she explains to the 911 operator that there's a fire.

As Adele gets done talking to the fire fighters, her cell phone buzzes and she pulls it out checking to see who it is. Matt.

"Hey Matt." She mutters walking away.

"Hey…"

"What's wrong?" She whispers as she stops walking, not liking the way his voice cracked.

"There was an accident."

"What…what kind of accident Matt?" She holds her breath.

"Something happen to Tyler as we we're driving back to his place and we crashed and we thought she was fine…but the next thing we know, she passed out. We're not sure how bad it is…but it looks bad."

Adele lets out a harsh breath. "Caroline."

~x~

Adele rushes into the Hospital spotting Matt as she does. He stands as he sees her and as she reaches him, he pulls her into a tight hug which she returns just as tightly. "What…" She pulls away trailing off as she looks at him. "There's internal bleeding…there doing everything they can."

Adele sinks down into one of the chairs behind them running her hands over her face. "God…what is happening?" She mutters and Matt knows she's referring to all the people dying and getting hurt around the town. "I don't know." He mutters as he sinks down in the chair next to her. "Where's Ty?" Adele whispers as she notices he's missing and she also notices that she's been whispering a lot tonight. It seems like all she can do at the moment.

"He had to leave, his mom wanted him home. Something about his dad." Adele nods and her phone buzzes again and she closes her eyes, knowing it was just another call with more bad news.

And she was right. "Hey Ty."

"My dad's dead." Opening her eyes Adele blows out a breath of air. "I will be right over." She mummers hanging up and turning to look at Matt who is watching her as she slaps her phone into her other hand. "His dad is dead."

"Holy…This night is officially the worst night in history." Adele only nods. "I have to go. Please call me when you hear something."

"Of course."

~x~

Slamming the door to her mustang shut Adele begins down the side walk towards her house, she needed to pick up a few things because she was sure she wasn't coming home anymore tonight. Leave it to her to pick this night to crawl out of her room and try to get back to a normal life without pain and suffering.

And to add to her pain and suffering she freezes at the end of the driveway, her eyes widen at the sight of Damon and her sister or more like Damon kissing her sister. Turning around Adele doesn't take a single step as she tries to wrap her mind around the sight. Gazing over her shoulder to them once more she shakes her head and begins walking, back to her mustang. It really shouldn't hurt so much to see Damon kissing someone, let alone her sister.

People dropping like flies, friends getting hurt, Damon kissing sisters, what the hell is in the air tonight?

* * *

><p><strong>Previews for the next chapter: <strong>

_**Surprising guest at Mayor Lockwood's funeral. **_

_**Caroline's life hanging in the balance. **_

_**Katherine's introduction to the story. **_

_**Damon confronts Adele about feelings. **_


	17. Chapter 17

**Happy Thanksgiving! xD**

**I know how this story is going to end. It all came together, I mean I've always had an idea of where this story was headed but now I'm for sure. I even have when the story will end. This story will end on the chapter of the last episode of season two and there will be a squeal. (: I'm already planning it. Just thought I'd let you all know. **

**Thank you Tvdlover87654 for the awesome Banner. **

**The link is up on my page so go check it out: I have also thrown together a playlist of songs I think match the story pretty good so you can check that out to. **

**P.S: Found out my mom is planning on taking to me to get my sleeping habits checked out, she's afraid I might have something called Insomnia which I really don't think is the case, I just have a tiny bit of trouble sleeping is all. I think she's planning this sometime after thanksgiving is over. Anyways, I always write at night because it's the only time I truly have to write and like I said, trouble sleeping so I figure what the hell, I have nothing better to do and most of the time I update my stories sometime in the very early early mornings like between 1 and 6 so because of all this, updates might slow down a bit but not to worry I will update as fast as I can. I promise I will try not to keep you guys waiting. **

**Thank you for all the support! **

**Please review. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 17: The Return<strong>

Adele's not sure what compelled her to stop at wickery bridge, just to stand at the railing overlooking the water and stare at the moon over the trees. She felt overwhelmed. Everything about the night had gone terribly wrong and more people she loved we're in risk of dying or having almost died.

_She was close to the hospital having decided to just head back to see about Caroline when her cell phone buzzes in the cup holder. Picking it up she sees it's her sister and she's tempted not to answer it but on a second thought she does. "Yeah?" _

"_Uncle John is on his way to the hospital and Jeremy just tried to kill himself. Where are you?" Adele finds herself having to pull over onto the side of the road. "What?" She breaths out leaning back in her seat. "I got home and I found him on the kitchen floor bleeding with a knife next to him, someone stabbed him and cut off his fingers and then I went up to check on Jeremy just to find that he had taken some of Anna's blood and then a whole bottle of pills. He was trying to become a vampire but it didn't work. Where are you?" _

"_Wait…you just got home?" _

"_Not too long ago yeah, someone stole my stuff from the school, but I didn't know that so I had to look for it but it wasn't there." Adele frowns. Than it wasn't Elena Damon was kissing. Than who was it? _

"_Adele…where are you?" Adele shakes herself from her thoughts and sighs. "On the way to the hospital. Elena…Tyler and Mayor Lockwood we're affected by the device to. Mayor Lockwood is dead and Tyler crashed his car, Caroline and Matt we're with him. Tyler and Matt are fine, but they don't know about Caroline. There's internal bleeding and there doing everything they can."_

_Elena lets out a harsh breath of air much like the reaction Adele had had. "What?" She whispers and Adele nods before realize she can't see her. "Yeah." _

After getting off the phone with Elena, Adele had found herself making a major U-turn and heading towards the bridge which is now where she stood. This night was only the start of a long nightmare, Adele knows it. She can feel that this nightmare was only going to get much worse and it made her want to leave again, too run. She couldn't help but feel afraid for her family's future. Nothing good was about to come to them. But she has to stay strong. She has to. You can't overcome a nightmare by cowering in fear now can you?

~x~

Adele makes her way down the hall towards the nurses' station where she knows Matt is waiting just on the other side. She's stopped by her name being called and Elena rushing towards her. Elena throws her arms around her sister who returns the hug somewhat numbly until Bonnie comes running up and Elena moves onto her.

"How's Caroline?" Elena finally asks as she pulls away and Bonnie shakes her head. "She's weak. There not sure she's going to make it." Adele reaches up to run her hands over her face as she closes her eyes. This cannot be happening. "Is there anything you can do? Like a spell or something?" Before Bonnie can respond, Damon cuts her off. "She doesn't know how. Do you?" The three look up at him as he slowly makes his way to them.

"No." Bonnie looks at the ground before looking up at Elena. "I don't."

It wouldn't matter even if she did, Adele wouldn't trust her to actually do anything about it. Not with the stint she pulled which caused all this in the first place.

"No you don't, because it took Emily years to learn a spell like that."

"Yeah, well I can take down a vampire. That spell was easy to learn." Adele's blue eyes meet Bonnies as she looks between them. Adele was in no mood to see Damon, she was in no mood to talk to Damon but she was not going to let anybody threaten him, it just crossed a line better left uncrossed.

"Yeah well you're also a lying bitch; I bet that was easy to learn as well." The arrogant look on Bonnie's face vanishes as quickly as it came as they all turn to look at Adele and Adele raises an eyebrow at Bonnie as if daring the witch to say something back but Bonnie stays completely silent.

Damon turns away from Elena and Bonnie to speak directly to Adele. It was hard to miss the tension in Adele's shoulders and the worry laced in her eyes along with pain and sorrow. He wanted to do something to be able to take some of it away. He wanted to help her. "I can give Caroline some blood." He mummers to her softly and her wide blue eyes snap up to look at him but she does not have the chance to say anything before Elena.

"No. No way." Elena shakes her head looking at Damon who glances at her quickly.

"I wasn't talking to you." He says as nicely as possible as he looks back at Adele and he can see that she's turning the offer over in her head, looking at it from all angles. "It'll only be enough to heal her; she will be safe in the hospital. It will be out of her system in a day."

"It's too risky. We can't agree to that." Elena pipes up again only to be glared at by Adele who snaps back harshly with, "He's not talking to you, shut up!"

She looks back up at him, trying to come to a decision and Damon waits as he gazes back at her. Standing here in front of her, he couldn't make up any reasons as to why he kissed Elena. He had been feeling weird all day, ever since he saw her in that dress. He thought of Katherine for the first time in a long time when he looked at Elena today and was overwhelmed with the feeling of familiarity. Everything about Katherine though it has been 100 something years is still all too familiar to him, so when he saw Elena standing on the porch with her hair curled and looking every bit like Katherine after his little emotional talk with little Gilbert, he had just gotten caught up and he had kissed her. It was a mistake and he needed to make sure Elena knew that before she ratted him out to Stefan if she hasn't already. Stefan would have his head.

"Do it." He finally hears her say and Elena jolts in surprise. "What? No Adele. It's too risky."

"Elena this is Caroline. She's my best friend. Like another sister to me and I'm not going to bury her. Not now anyways. Damon, do it." She demands before pushing past him and walking away from them.

~x~

Once again she's driving, towards the Lockwood Manor to check on Tyler one last time before calling it a night, a very stressful night. She'd be surprised if she didn't wake up in the morning with a couple grey hairs.

She almost groans out loud as her phone buzzes in the cup holder. Can't they just leave her alone? Hooking the phone up to her cars blue-tooth system she answers with her famous "What?"

"Are you at the house or anywhere near the house?" Damon's voice fills her car.

"No. I'm on my way to Tyler's. Why?" She had just left them, something else couldn't have happened already.

"Good. Do not go to the house." Adele can hear Elena in the back ground and it sounded as though she was trying to get the phone away from Damon.

"Why?" This time Adele does groan.

"Katherine's back." Adele slows the car down to a stop at the stop sigh. "Katherine?" Adele mutters surprised. Hopefully she had heard him wrong.

"Yes." So that's who he was kissing on the porch, though by the sound of it he thought it was Elena.

"Can she get into my house?"

"Yes but Adele do not go home." Adele makes a very quick U-turn.

"Yeah right! Jeremy's in the house and if she can get in and is willing to hurt people…"

"Adele no. Go to Tyler's forget I said anything." Damon pleads but Adele isn't listening. "But you did say something. I'm on my way to the house now." With that she hangs up and Damon growls ready to chuck the phone when he hears the dial tone. Elena looks up at him with her wide puppy dog brown eyes. "We have to go. Now."

~x~

Damon and Elena reach the house just as Adele is marching up the porch steps. "Adele!" But she's already in the house watching as Stefan makes it back to his feet. "Stefan." Elena calls as she enters the house as well and Stefan looks up at her before looking around. "Elena."

"What happened?" She asks and Damon sighs.

"Katherine happened." Turning on her heel Adele storms up the stairs and down the hall to Jeremy's room where she swings the door open before stepping in, seeing Jeremy asleep on the bed. She slams the door shut causing him to jump up in surprise. "What's going on?" He asks as he takes his sister in.

"We need to talk about a lot of shit Jer and we need to talk _now_." Now that she sees he's alright, she's pissed.

"Are you going to bitch me out about the pills too?"

"Yes. What the hell we're you thinking?" She almost yells and he flinches. "I was thinking that if I can't have Anna or Vicki, I can be a vampire and shut the pain out." Adele shakes her head her eyes widening at she looks at him. "You stupid little bastard." She spits out and Jeremy's eyes widen in shock.

"You do not ever try to kill yourself, even if you'll come back as a vampire. That is not a life you want Jeremy. That is not a choice. I get it, there dead and it hurts."

"No you don't get it Adele…" He stands from his bed to stand tall against her and though Adele is shorter and smaller than him, when she straightens her back and holds her head up with her shoulders squared and her jaw set with that look that means she ready for battle, that she knows she's going to win, he feels two feet tall and that was always something he admired about his sister, the way she could bring even the biggest of people down to level with her.

"Yes I do! I lost people to Jeremy. I lost mom and dad, I lost part of my family over the summer but I'm still here and my heart is still beating! You will not turn into a vampire by your own will and I know Stefan and Elena already said this stuff to you but I know you and I know you didn't hear a word of what they said but you will hear me Jeremy, you will hear me when I tell you that if you turn yourself into a vampire just to turn off your humanity, I will plunged a wooden stake into your heart without a second thought. I love you Jer and I will _not_ watch you become _that_."

Jeremy sinks back down onto the bed defeated. Sure his sister just threatened him with death by her own hand and he knows she's completely and 100 percent serious but he's not mad at her, he doesn't feel betrayed by her, he feels broken.

"I just…Anna's dead Adele, Vicki's dead. Everyone I love ends up dead." Adele sinks down next to him.

"I know how it feels and I'm sorry. I'm sorry about Anna, I'm sorry for killing Vicki, I'm sorry about having Damon erase your memory and I'm sorry for lying to you. I only did it to protect you but now I realize that you being clueless is not the best way to do that so you want to know the truth, you want to know what's going on, here it goes…"

~x~

Taking it one step at a time back down the steps Adele sighs loudly. After explaining everything to Jeremy, she told him to sleep on the information because it was a lot to take in and by the look on his face he diffidently wasn't sure how to take it in. Seeing her sister and the Salvatore brothers still standing around and looking up at her she shrugs a shoulder. "I told Jeremy everything."

"Everything?" Elena asks frowning and Adele nods coming to the end of the stairs. "Everything, I'm done lying to him. It's not going to keep him safe."

"Are you alright?" Stefan asks softly and Adele looks up at him.

"Oh I'm perfect. You know I'm forced to deal with the shit that happened over the summer that I forgot all about, Caroline could have died, and now my sister has an evil look alike out there possibly looking to kill us all but you know what Stefan? I'm just freakin' wonderful." Stefan nods stepping back. "Stupid question." He mutters. Adele sighs sending him a small smile. "Sorry." She mumbles and he smiles back at her. "It's okay."

"I thought with all the tomb vampires gone that things would get better." Elena adds on looking between the brothers. "We all did." Stefan says and Adele shakes her head.

"Well obviously it's not and I have a feeling this is just the beginning." She voices and no one says anything for a minute because they know she's right.

"Katherine has been in this house that means she's been invited in, what are we going to do?" Elena finally speaks, deciding they should focus on the matter at hand instead of their doomed future.

"Move." The other three in the room turn to look at Damon.

Adele frowns at Damon. "Very helpful Damon, thank you." She snaps and Damon looks at Elena completely ignoring her.

"Katherine wants you dead there's zero you can do about it, you will be dead, but you're not so clearly she has other plans."

Stefan nods pulling Elena close to him, to comfort her as much as he could. "Right and we need to figure out what her plans are not provoke her in the process…what happened tonight when you thought she was Elena?"

Everything seems to become even more silent as they wait for Damon to answer and he takes to looking between all of them before he answers, though he doesn't want to as Adele's blue eyes burn into him. "We kissed."

"What do you mean you kissed?"

Damon sighs looking up at his brother with a look that states he doesn't want to have to explain himself. "Come on, you know what that means." Once again his eyes go to Adele who has chosen to cast her eyes to the wood floors beneath her.

Damon moves out of the way as Stefan rushes towards him. "Don't be obvious Stefan." Damon smirks as Stefan moves towards him until Elena pushes her way into his path. "He kissed Katherine. Not me."

All this Damon kissing Elena or Damon kissing Katherine was starting to make Adele's stomach turn as Elena turns to look up at Damon. "I wouldn't do that." Damon sends her a raised eyebrow and a grin before Adele finally speaks up.

"Alright that's enough! We don't have time for this, Elena's _evil _twin is still out there and ready for a fight, we need to figure out how to take her down before she causes anymore damage."

Stefan nods to Damon. "Later." But Damon shakes his head. "Not worth it."

"John must know something." Elena mentions looking back at her sister who nods. "What other reason would she have to try and kill him?" Damon looks between the two.

"She's Katherine!" He exclaims loudly. "She loves to play games and you're fooling yourself if you think you're going to find out what she's up to before she wants you to know."

"There right, John could know something through Isobel." Stefan looks between the girls. "Your mother she was in touch with Katherine so maybe we can go to the hospital get him to talk." Adele sighs leaning against the railing of the staircase as Elena nods up at Stefan.

"I have a better idea." Adele turns to glare at Damon. "And what is that?" Damon smirks at her and she grinds her teeth, curse that stupid little smirk that was able to turn her stomach in the most delicious way. "I'm just going to ignore the bitch, see ya." He turns to leave.

"Is that smart?" Elena asks and Damon of course stops though Adele was content with him leaving. "If Katherine thinks she's being ignored it will lure her out. She'll make a move." Stefan shrugs. "And then what?" Damon looks at Adele once more. "Stake her; rip her head off, something polite. We'll see." He sends them all one last smirk before leaving and Adele breaths out. "I'm going to bed."

~x~

She decides to stop by the hospital on the way to the Lockwood's. They are holding a town get together to show respect for their fallen Mayor and of course Adele was going and not just because Tyler asked her to be there.

Spotting Matt right away Adele rushes over. "Have you been here all night?" She asks as she looks at his tired face and he nods. "With the sheriff." Adele's heart rate goes up. "No one else?" She mutters and he stops to think before answering. "Stefan's brother Damon showed up." Adele sighs in relief. "How is she?" The question causes Matt to grin. "Come see."

Walking into the room Caroline pushes herself up as she spots her and Adele smiles at her. "Jersey shore is on." Adele shakes her head before racing forward to hug her and Caroline laughs slightly. "Oh…easy." Adele pulls back. "Still a little sore."

This causing them all to laugh as Adele straightens up. "My turn." Matt mutters before leaning forward to give her a kiss and Caroline giggles. "Isn't he cute?" Caroline looks back up at her, her eyes widening slightly. "Why are you crying?"

Adele didn't even realize she was until she reaches up and feels a single tear drop on her right cheek which causing her to laugh again as Matt wraps an arm around her shoulders. "I'm just so happy you're okay."

"Aw! I love you guys." Adele nods, not being able to wipe the smile from her face. "We love you to."

~x~

Adele bounces up the steps to the Lockwood manor, hugging Tyler when she reaches him. "I'm so happy you're here." Tyler whispers to her and Adele smiles up at him softly before they both frown and turn at the rumble of a motor. Adele raises an eyebrow at the Ford Bronco before looking back at Tyler. "Is that Mason?" She asks almost in disbelief as Tyler nods and Adele smirks taking off back down the steps as the man steps from his truck.

Seeing the small blonde running towards him, Mason Lockwood's handsome face breaks out into a grin. "Adele Gilbert!" He calls and she throws herself into his open arms letting him swing her around like in one of them sappy love movies.

"Mason Lockwood, I haven't seen you in forever!" She exclaims as he finally sets her down and he laughs loudly. "I know." Stepping back he looks her over. "Damn girl." Is all he says and she laughs pulling him up the steps to Tyler.

Mason Lockwood is Mayor Lockwood's younger brother and Tyler's uncle and with Adele growing up with Tyler she spent a lot of time with Mason as well and she loved him like he was her own uncle not to mention that the man adored her.

~x~

Damon frowns as he continues to watch the new guy talking with Carol and is eyes narrow dangerously as he watches Adele bounce her way over to them and the guy throw his arm around her shoulder as she wraps her arms around his waist, Carol laughing at the both of them. Damon stops the sheriff as she walking by. "Who is the new guy?"

"Mayor's younger brother. Mason Lockwood."

"Is he on the council? You know like John was when he rolled into town?" Elizabeth laughs at the thought.

"He's nothing like John. For one he's not an ass. He's not a believer either. He wants nothing to do with the council. He's to pre-occupied with catching the perfect wave." With that Elizabeth walks off but that still doesn't explain to him why the guy was all over Adele like he was.

~x~

From across the room Adele notices Damon grab at his head and she sets her drink down leaving the ground of teens to go over to him. As of this moment, she wanted nothing to do with Damon Salvatore but seeing him obviously in pain proved to her that it was next to impossible to have nothing to do with him.

Resting a hand on his shoulder she looks up at him. "Are you okay?" She whispers and he blinks letting his hand fall before looking from her to Bonnie who Adele didn't notice until now.

"Oh…of course." Adele mutters with a glare and Bonnie straightens her back. "Do you have something to say to me?" Adele's blue eyes narrow as she crosses her arms over her chest straightening her back as well and Bonnie and Damon seem to be the only two who notice that she takes a step forward and to the side to position herself directly in front of Damon. "Believe me when I tell you, you don't want to hear what I have to say to you. It's nothing pleasant."

"Listen…" Adele huffs cutting Bonnie off.

"As of right now, I don't want to hear anything you have to say. Why don't you just run along and play witch with a stick up her ass somewhere else." Bonnie's jaw clinches but she doesn't say anything as she pushes past the two and storms off into a different room.

Turning around Adele glances up at Damon. "Can we talk?" He asks softly and she shakes her head. "I have nothing to say to you." She mutters as she pushes past him but Damon grips her elbow pulling her back and into his side softly. "We really need to talk." He mummers into her into her hair and she closes her eyes, willing her heart rate to go down. "No, we don't." She whispers cursing how breathless he can make her before pulling away from him and rushing off.

~x~

Adele places her hands on the railing overlooking the front yard, taking a deep breath. She did not like how riled up Damon could get her just by a simple touch. She didn't need this right now. She needed to successfully get over Tony, not get killed and keep her family safe. She didn't need to be distracted by the sexy vampire that made the muscles in her stomach clinch by a single look or the butterflies in her stomach go wild by one of his rare but amazingly beautiful smiles. She just didn't need that.

"Hey." Jumping slightly Adele turns to gaze at her sister standing next to her. "Hey." She mumbles turning her attention back to the front yard. "Are you okay?" Elena asks softly and Adele shakes out of her thoughts before sending her a wide grin, taking notice to her sister's thoughtful expression as she studies her. "I'm wonderful." Elena nods. "Okay, I was just making sure." Nodding Adele pushes off the railing. "I'm going to go talk to people. I'll see you later." Elena smiles her goodbye as Adele walks towards the steps.

Stopping just on the first step Adele looks back to Elena a grin lacing her lips. "By the way…" Elena turns her attention back to her. "It was nice to meet you…Katherine." Adele laughs at the dumb founded look her sister's look alike suddenly gets and turns practically skipping down the steps. Adele guesses the bitch thought she was sly, obviously not. Her sister wasn't even here yet and Elena practically never curls her hair, also Elena would have known Adele was lying when she said she was wonderful. Her sister always knows.

~x~

Damon watches as Adele mingles around in the front yard talking and hugging people who are more than happy to pay attention to her. It makes him think that there couldn't be anyone besides Bonnie and maybe a couple other girls in town that didn't like to shower the young woman with attention and love but he couldn't blame them, she just had that way about her which brings him to realize what he failed to until this moment.

He had been following her around almost all day, hiding in the shadows and watching her every move like some crazed obsessed stalker. How could he not have realized she was standing there when he had kissed…Katherine thinking it was Elena? Why did he kiss her anyways? He didn't care for Elena in the way he cares for Adele. He cares for Elena, as his brother's girlfriend and a friend and of course there's the fact that she looks like Katherine. Adele wasn't Katherine, she didn't look like Katherine and she didn't act like Katherine and he found himself loving her even more for it.

Elena spots Damon watching the people in the front as she walks up the steps to the Lockwood house. She tells Jenna and Jeremy to go ahead inside before walking up to stand beside him.

"Hey…how are you doing?" Damon glances at her briefly. "Great Elena, walking on sunshine, thanks for asking." Elena sighs softly shaking her head as she looks up at him. "Damon…" He turns back to her. "Elena."

"We should be able to talk about this, Damon were close enough now. I really wanna know how you're doing." Damon turns his gaze back out into the front, his eyes finding Adele immediately. "I kissed you, Adele saw, ended up being Katherine, Adele hates me…" He looks at her sighing. "How do you think I'm doing?"

"I think that you're hurt." Damon scoffs, that's a good one. "No I don't get hurt Elena."

Elena tilts her head. "No you don't attempt that you get hurt, you get angry then cover it up and do something stupid."

Damon frowns as he studies her. "You're scared. You think Katherine's going to send me off the deep end…" Elena doesn't say anything. "I don't need her for that." Looking back out and spotting Adele hugging a brown haired, green eyed guy and laughing he grinds his teeth together as he walks past Elena, wanting to distance himself but having a second thought. Stopping he turns to Elena. "You know what…why is it so shocking and why are people so scared because I might actually feel something for your sister?"

Elena turns, somewhat surprised by the question. "It's not that were surprised, it's that we know Adele could never love you back, there's no chance. You're not her type and she's going to leave as soon as she's done with school. It's who she is." Damon swallows as he turns to look back out to Adele. He nods turning back to walk away. "Now I'm hurt."

Elena watches him walk off, what had she just done? Had she really just lied to Damon? Because while Adele might not show it or attempt it, Elena knew she had feelings for the guy, weather she loved him or not Elena wasn't sure but she is sure that her sister is well on her way to being in love with Damon Salvatore and that scared Elena. Maybe that's why she lied because she found it to be in her sister's best interest if Damon stays clear.

~x~

She had been doing a very good job of ignoring him as she walks towards her car. Seeing as he didn't want to get the message, she decided it was time to leave but he's a very persistent guy as he follows behind her. "Please, Adele just talk to me."

She shakes her head. "No." She mumbles like an unhappy child and he rolls his eyes. He needs answers, ever since his little chat with Elena; he couldn't stand the thought of not knowing her feelings. He needs to know where she stands with them because what they've been doing has to mean something.

"Adele…" She abruptly stops catching him by surprise and he almost can't catch himself before slamming into her. "Okay Damon, I give up. What?"

"I…" He wasn't sure where to start as he looks down at her and she raises an eyebrow waiting for him to say something but when he doesn't, she turns ready to walk away but he catches her elbow like he had earlier. "I'm over Katherine." Sighing Adele turns back to him.

"No you're not and I don't expect you to be. You've loved her for so long…"

"But I don't love her. I thought I did, but now I realize I don't."

Shaking her head Adele huffs. "You kissing her thinking it was my sister sure says differently Damon."

"I know and I don't know why I did that…I was just…I don't know. I'm sorry, I know that's not enough but I can't take back what I did."

"It doesn't matter." Adele whispers as she once again goes to walk away but Damon once again doesn't let her. "It does matter…" He trails off wondering how to approach his next question.

"Just…Just tell me one thing please. Do you love me?" The question is enough to almost knock Adele off her feet as she stares up at him wide eyed. What was she supposed to say to that? She wasn't sure how she felt. Wasn't sure about almost anything at the moment but the one thing she could be sure about was that even if she did love him, it was still too early, Tony was still too fresh in her mind to be able to give herself over to someone else completely.

But she does feel something for him, she does and if he's asking her this and she's not exactly sure how to answer maybe it's time she gave herself a little bit of distance from him, with that thought she shakes her head. If she was going to distance herself she needed to lie, as much as she didn't want to, she would have to make him hate her.

Damon takes a step back giving her a look like she just kicked him and she presses her lips together, willing herself not to cry. "Could you ever love me?" Once again she shakes her head closing her eyes to avoid looking at him. "I'm sorry." She whispers before taking off and he's left feeling like she just ripped out his heart as he watches her get into her mustang and peel out of the Lockwood's drive way.

~x~

Adele slips off her bracelet, the last of her jewelry before running a brush through her hair. Sighing she puts the brush back down and closes her eyes. One more painful day done and gone. Turning off her bedroom light, Adele leaves the bathroom jumping and throwing a hand to her mouth as she's met by the sight of Damon sitting at the end of her bed. Damon sends her a glance before turning back to stare at the wall. "Damon…You scared me." She breaths shifting from foot to foot. Mission "get Damon to hate her" did not involve him dropping by to sit at the end of her bed looking like a lost puppy. What is he doing?

"Sorry, just doing my part in the neighborhood watch." Blinking Adele walks forward. "Thank you for looking after everyone, looking after me." He nods and Adele notices his eyes are a bit unfocused. "That's me trusty bodyguard."

"Damon…have you been drinking?"

He holds up a hand and uses his fingers to show her that he has just a little bit and Adele sighs. "Your drunk and you're upset. That's not a good combination."

Damon scoffs. "I'm not upset, upset is an emotion specific to those who care."

"Don't do that, it's a lie. You care, you know you care."

Adele almost takes a step back with the look he sends her. "You…you don't love me. You never will…" Adele lets out a breath of air as she looks away from him. "Damon."

"But yet what we've been doing here means something…You're the liar here Adele." She takes a step back as he stands. "There is something going on between the two of us, and you know it."

Damon turns completely to her and Adele's eyes widen. "You're lying to me, but most importantly you're lying to yourself…and I can prove it." Adele shakes her head and places her hands on his chest as he cups her face. "Damon no." But he doesn't listen as he presses his lips to hers and she's tempted to give in, to melt into him but he's drunk and on edge and she can't do this. She pushes him away slightly. "Damon don't. What is wrong with you?"

"You want this…" He whispers and tries again to kiss her but she pulls her head back. "You're better than this." She pleads and he shakes his head. "That's where you're wrong." She struggles to push him away as he leans towards her again and he catches her hands holding them tightly in his, so tightly it almost hurts.

"I care about you Damon. Listen to me…" He stops what he's doing to stare down at her. "I care about you but I can't…I can't do this right now." His face gives off no response to her as she looks up at him. "I'm sorry."

"Adele…" Adele's head snaps over to her bedroom door where Jeremy stands with his arms cross as he looks between his sister and Damon. "What's going on?" Adele yanks her hands from Damon's with a little trouble as she sends Jeremy a reassuring smile.

"Nothing Jer. Everything's okay, go back to bed." Damon looks away from her and over to Jeremy. "No, everything's not okay Adele…He wants to be a vampire." Adele frowns up at Damon before gasping and whirling around as he rushes past her and over to Jeremy, where he grabs the younger boy by the throat and slams him against the wall next to her door. "Damon!" Adele shirks, now completely terrified.

"You want to shut out the pain? It's the easiest thing in the world." Tears well up in her eyes, he's not going to. He wouldn't. Her heart is racing and her mouth is dry, fear gripping at her gut so hard she feels sick. "Damon no! Stop! Please!" She rushes forward grabbing his arm but he won't budge. "And the part of you that cares just goes away, all you have to do is flip the switch and snap!"

Along with the snap of Jeremy's neck Damon hears the scream Adele lets out from directly behind him, a scream so filled with terror and disbelief that is causes him to let the now dead boy go and turn his head to watch the blonde drop to her knees beside the body, her hands barely running over the boy as rivers of tears spill down her cheeks. Oh my god…what did he just do?

Adele's blue eyes, bright with tears turn to look up at him and he backs out of the room slowly before turning because he's not able to bare the look on her face. Adele turns her eyes back to Jeremy as Damon disappears. He just…he just killed her brother. Damon Salvatore a man she trusted with every fiber of her being just killed her little brother. If she hadn't just witnessed it first hand, she wouldn't believe it but she did witness it. How could he?

Crawling over to her bed Adele snatches her cell phone off the bed before crawling back over to Jeremy and pulling him into her lap. She dials the only number she can think of on her phone before pressing it to her ear with a shaking hand.

"Hello?"

"Stefan…" Stefan doesn't answer for a long minute.

"Adele…what's wrong?"

"He killed him." She cries.

"Who killed who?"

"Damon…he killed Jeremy." Adele hangs up the phone as she hears the dial tone and she barely has it on the floor beside her when Stefan appears in her doorway. Stefan moves forward bending down next to her and picking up Jeremy's right hand, noticing right away what Adele had failed to noticed. "He's going to be okay." Adele looks up and chokes on a sob as she sees the Gilbert ring on his finger. Stefan nods pulling her to him, letting her cry into his chest. "I know…"

"Why would he do this?" She cries and Stefan shakes his head not being able to answer. "I hate him Stefan…I hate him so much." Stefan closes his eyes, knowing that was a lie.

After calming down Adele had pulled away and started running her fingers though Jeremy's hair. Both she and Stefan decided against calling Elena who was currently at a sleepover at Bonnies and we're now just waiting as Stefan paces the room.

"He saw the ring." Adele shakes her head. "No he didn't. He killed him without seeing the ring." Stefan sighs running a hand though his hair, he knew this would happen. "It's Katherine, she got to him, undid everything that was good about him."

"There's nothing good about him. He wants to be hated, it's easier that way…well he got his wish." With that said Jeremy takes a sharp breath almost falling out of his sisters lap but her arms tighten around him keeping him in place as Stefan rushes to them "Is he okay?" Adele whispers as Stefan grabs a hold of Jeremy's chin to look at him. "He's fine."

"Damon killed me…He killed me." Jeremy breaths as he reaches up to grip a hold of his sisters arm. "You're okay. You're okay." Adele assures him as she closes her eyes. Thank god.

* * *

><p><strong>Previews for the next chapter:<strong>

_**Adele and Michael are forced to work at the Carnival by Elena. **_

_**Damon is curious as to who Mason Lockwood really is. **_

_**Adele and Damon have a sort of a break though in there relationship. **_


	18. Chapter 18

**It's finished!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

**Chapter 18: Brave New World**

Adele pushes her blonde hair from her face as she stumbles half-awake into her bathroom. Looking up into the mirror, she shocked to see her eyes are red and her cheeks are puffy like she had cried herself to sleep or something.

Wait a minute, turning she swings the bathroom door back open and darts out of her room, quickly shuffling down the hall and peeking into Jeremy's room. Her eyes land on his sleeping form and she sighs in relief closing the door so she can lean against it without waking him up.

Damon had killed her brother last night and then left leaving her in an emotional down sprawl not only because her brother was well dead but because his death came at the hands of a guy she might, quite possibly be in love with but she found herself not being able to hate him and she wonders if Jeremy wasn't wearing his ring and was forever dead if she would be able to hate him then but she doubts it which in return pisses her off. How could she not hate the man who killed her brother?

Adele jumps slightly when Jenna appears from her bedroom looking at Adele as if she had grown a second head. "Everything alright?" Adele gives her aunt a small hopefully reassuring smile. "Yeah. Of course just a little dizzy." Jenna's eyes widen slightly. "Oh god. You're not going to pass out on me again are you?" Adele laughs slightly; though she didn't remember that night Jeremy had given her a play by play of what had happened. "No Aunt Jenna. I'm not going to pass out."

Jenna nods still not taking her eyes from her niece. "I still would like to know what happened that night. I was terrified for you Adele. You freaked out and I didn't know what to do." Adele shakes her head. "I was just…everything just kind of caught up to me. Mom and dad, the summer, being adopted, it all just got to be too much I guess."

"You know I love you right?" Adele blinks slowly before nodding. "Yeah, I love you to Aunt Jenna." Jenna smiles warmly at her. "Good, so don't ever do that to me again!" Adele laughs pushing off of Jeremy's bedroom door. "Will do."

~x~

"Mason and Tyler Lockwood what are you two doing?" Mason and Tyler both grinning widely glance over as Adele steps through the open doors to the Lockwood home.

"We just came back from a run, what are you doing?"

Adele smiles up at Mason, happy to finally have him back in town. "Tyler promised me he'd take me to breakfast."

Mason looks at Tyler with raised eyebrows. "So he beat me to it. Damn." Mason laughs as Tyler slaps him on the back.

"I just got to take a shower." Tyler smiles at her and she nods waving him off before turning back to Mason.

"Okay since Tyler has lunch covered how about I cover dinner?"

Adele's grin widens. "Can't. Elena has me working at the fair tonight. She's going bat shit crazy over this because Caroline is demanding things be perfect."

Mason snorts. "Nothing is ever perfect in her eyes."

"Oh I know, but Elena will get points for trying."

"Fine, I'll let it slide for now, but you owe me." Adele nods huffing slightly. "Of course." Going to hug her, Adele shirks backing up. "You're all sweaty that's gross." Mason laughs loudly before embracing her in a huge bear hug making shirk again. "Ew!" She laughs loudly.

And of course little did the two know Damon Salvatore was in the next room listening to the whole thing and cursing Mason Lockwood more than he already was before, because damn it! He's not allowed to touch her!

~x~

Stepping into the ticket booth Adele is met with the sight of Michael leaning back in his chair while resting his legs up on what is to be her chair for the next two hours while throwing a paper ball up in the air and catching it as it came back down. "Having fun?" Michael jumps spinning around, his attention taken off the paper ball he had just thrown into the air and it comes back down hitting him in the head before hitting the ground and Michael snorts bending down to pick it up. "Not anymore, thank you very much."

"Oh please, you know the party doesn't start until Adele Gilbert shows up." Michael laughs taking his legs from the chair as she slaps them. "I didn't realize sitting in a sweaty ticket booth for two hours was considered a party. How come I didn't get the memo?"

"Because you lock yourself in your apartment 9 times out of 10, this is officially a two person party. I brought the refreshments." Holding up her hand Michael eyes the two black and green cans before groaning. "I will forever blame you, for my addiction." Adele laughs handing him one of the two cans of Monster she had bought when Elena told her, her partner tonight happened to be Michael Landon.

Adele takes a seat in the chair placing her car keys and IPhone on the long and not that wide counter in front of them next to the cash box. She ignores when Michael reaches over and snatches her phone because after the 3 years she had dated him, she was used to it.

"The 3 most listened to songs on Adele Gilbert's playlist; I wonder what they are…" Adele rolls her eyes as he once again leans back to search the contents of her phone, mostly her music. "Number 3: Vienna by Billy Joel, of course a classic. Number 2: Wake Up Call by Maroon 5." Michael pauses to glance up at her but she still ignores him as she hands a customer there tickets. "Number 1: Harder to Breath by Maroon 5, why am I not surprised that your top two songs would be by Maroon 5?" He asks and this time Adele does turn to him.

"Do not do that. You like those song." Michael snorts a laugh. "My liking of the songs does not even compare to the love you have for Maroon 5, it's seriously like unreal." Adele rolls her blue eyes. "How many times have we had this conversion? Maroon 5 is just an awesome band okay? Do not bash on Maroon 5." Michael smirks down at her phone. "I know I just love pushing your buttons." Adele shakes her head snatching her phone from his hands. "Hey!" He exclaims looking at her with wide black eyes. "You're supposed to be helping me, not pissing me off."

"Please girl, you can never stay mad at me." Adele sticks her tongue out at him with a smile. It was true. She couldn't stay mad at him.

~x~

Adele clinches at her side, trying desperately to catch her breath. "Your…face…was…priceless!" Michael rolls his eyes handing the guy standing at the window of the booth his tickets. "I was for sure that I was going to die. Your dad was going to murder me; I could see it in his eyes. I was saved by you almost throwing up on him."

"Well you did promise him that I wouldn't come home shit faced and you practically had to carry me through the door, not to mention I was missing a shoe."

"You threw it at me! It went into the water, I looked for it but it was nowhere to be found. I swore it would be the last time we went to a bon fire together."

"Yet we went to three more the next month, you know after you gained back my dad's trust." Adele giggles as he shoots her a look.

"Kitten…" Her eyes leave Michael to look out the booths window. "Damon." She mutters leaning back in her chair as the smile slips from her face. "What do you want?" Raising an eyebrow he holds up a ten dollar bill before slipping it though the slot. Adele takes it, exchanging it for tickets and handing them to him. "And I think we need to talk."

"As you can probably see, I'm a little busy."

"After you're done."

Shaking her head Adele leans forward, looking up at him. "You want to talk call my voice mail talk your heart out, maybe I'll listen, maybe I won't. We'll see."

"You're going to have to talk to me sooner or later." He mutters and she rolls her eyes. "When I want to talk to you I will, but don't count on me wanting to any time soon."

When he's a safe distance away, Adele sends a glance in Michael's direction. "Who was that?" She hears him mutter softly and she shakes her head pushing hair from her face. "My sister's boyfriend's older brother, he's an ass."

~x~

"No. No. No. Absolutely not." Adele laughs gripping a hold of Michael's bicep harder as she pulls him forward. "What are we still stuck in last year? When are we going to grow out of the merry go round?" Adele mockingly gasps. "You can never grow out of the merry go round! It holds so many memories."

Adele moves to behind him pushing against his back to get him to move closer to the large merry go round. "Will you stop fighting me? You know you want to."

"I see no good reason to get on a small ass horse and ride around in circles for like 5 minutes."

"I'll give you one, it's fun! Don't be a party crasher Mikey! Come on!" Leaving him behind she jogs ahead of him and he stops to watch her as she reaches the large carousal and turns back to him smirking. Shaking his head in defeat he makes his way over.

"I want to ride this one." Michael sends her a look that says "You have got to be kidding me?" and leads her over to a much bigger horse. "If you think I'm going to fit on something like that, you are insane woman." Laughing Adele mounts the large horse backwards waiting for Michael to mount it as well only the right way, something they had done many times before. "I can't believe your making me do this." He mumbles as he mounts the house almost slipping off the back of it. "See this is a sign. This is a bad idea." Adele giggles pulling him by the sides of his leather jacket so he's more securely on the horse.

A few minutes later and Michael is still pushing his self-up to stay on the horse. "I do not see how we pulled this off so many times."

"You grew, that might not help our case much." Shaking his head Michael smirks at her and she smirks back.

Slowly both there smirks fade but they don't lose eye contact. Biting the inside of her cheek Adele couldn't help but think that being here with Michael, in such a familiar way felt nice. It was giving her a good distraction from the drama of her everyday life.

He scoots up, not only to stay on the horse but to get closer to her and she smiles gripping a hold of his leather jacket tighter. Reaching up he pushes the couple strands of blonde hair in front of her face back and leans forward looking for any objections but he's only met with her wide and waiting blue eyes which makes him smirk again as he presses his lips to hers softly.

The kiss is sweet and slow and Adele sighs into it as she places a hand on his heart. This felt right, like the way it did when he first kissed her, which now that she's thinking about it was also on a carousal. What is up with them and carousals?

Slowly they pull away both glancing up as the song chances to Won't Go Home Without You by of course Maroon 5, the song Adele had announced was there's. Glancing back down at each other they laugh, it was almost too ironic to be real.

Adele's laugh breaks off into a gasp as Michael finally slips from the horse landing with a loud thud on the platform under them. Leaning over the back of the horse Adele's wide eyes take him in. "Are you okay?" She whispers a small grin lacing her lips. "Oh I'm perfect." He squeaks and Adele laughs once again leaning up and back against the pole of the horse.

~x~

Damon's icy eyes narrow as he watches Adele with that guy. He had been in the ticket booth with her and when they left, she had started dragging him around the place, getting food and playing games until they finally hopped on the Merry Go Round where they now sit on the same damn horse facing each other.

Damon feels the rumble of a growl with in his chest as he watches the guy kiss her and she does nothing but kiss him back. "Michael Landon." He almost jumps, because he was so deep in his thoughts he did not hear Elena sneak up beside him. "What?" He mutters glancing at her.

"That is Michael Landon, Adele's ex. She started dating him in 8th grade and broke up with him, towards the end of last year before our parents died. They only had two break ups, one that lasted all of two weeks and one permanent…or not so permanent."

Damon takes a deep breath, to calm his sudden burning rage brought on by serious jealously which causes him to get even more pissed off. He's Damon freakin' Salvatore! He does not do jealous.

~x~

Someone had just informed Elena that one of the speakers had blown causing her to groan and search around for someone to help her, her eyes landing on Adele and Michael who are talking with a group of other students.

"Hey guys." Turning their attention away from the group Michael sends Elena a smile as Adele raises an eyebrow. "Hey."

"Do you know anything about speakers?" Elena asks Michael who laughs before asking, "You're kidding right?" which causes Elena to laugh as well. "Okay stupid question. Can you do me a huge favor and grab the extra speaker and hook it up to the karaoke station?" Michael nods and she sighs in relief. "Thank you; make sure it's working first. Whoever hooked up the last one did not know what the hell they we're doing."

"That's because the school hires the cheapest people they can to get everything up and running, you'd think with all the money they make from this thing they'd be able to spare the money to get shit done right." Adele speaks up causing Michael to laugh and shake his head. "Where is the speaker?"

"In the hall by the arm wrestling station." Michael blinks at Elena. "Where is that?" He whispers and Adele laughs throwing her head back. "You are so clueless."

"Excuse me for not paying attention!" Elena can't help but laugh at the two as Adele makes a face to him and he sticks his tongue out at her. "The Arm wrestling station is down by Mr. Saltzman's room." Michael nods. "I'm going to pretend I know where that is and take off. I'll see you girls later."

Once he's gone Elena sends her sister a smirk. "What?" Adele groans and Elena laughs holding up her hands. "Nothing…just are you two getting back together or something?" Adele shakes her head. "No. It's just nice to have a distraction from our everyday drama. We both agreed we're better off friends, though he is extremely sexy isn't he?" Elena nods and they both laugh. "I'm glad you're having a good time, you deserve it."

"Are you having a good time?" Adele asks blinking at her sister who sighs.

"I am, despite this being stressful, I am having a good time."

"You did really good, this place is epic."

Elena smiles her thanks before frowning and Adele raises an eyebrow. "What?" She asks sighing. "Damon saw the two of you on the merry go round. He did not look happy; actually he looked pissed, so watch out." Adele shakes her head. "Good mood officially gone."

~x~

Taking in his surroundings while also looking for a suitable victim Damon's eye run over "lover boy" working on a speaker, and Damon sends Stefan a smirk causing Stefan's eyes to widen slightly. "What…what are you planning?"

"Since this is realty and there's no such thing as werewolf's or…combat turtles." Turning Damon begins his way over to Michael and Stefan follows behind him. "There uh Ninja turtles." He informs and Damon sends him a look that says to shut up from over his shoulder as they finally reach him.

"Hey you." Michael's black eyes turn away from the wires at the back of the speaker to glance up at the two standing behind him. One he recognizes as the guy Adele was talking to in the booth. "I have a name." He mutters turning away from them.

"I don't care." Grabbing the boy by the shoulder Damon turns him back around, looking the boy directly in the eyes as he does and slowly Michael's expression turns blank. "I need you to pick a fight with someone…" Stefan swears, this was going to come back to bite Damon in the ass if he's not careful. "A kid named Tyler Lockwood."

"Damon, don't do this." But of course Damon ignores him. "Get him mad, don't back down, no matter what he does okay?" Michael nods slowly. "I won't back down."

"I know you won't." Damon grins as he lets the boy go and he turns away from them before walking away. "I just want to point out all the reasons this is a bad idea. For one Adele cares about him, and she also cares about Tyler and someone is going to get hurt. You already killed Jeremy so this is going way beyond crossing the line, you know…if that didn't already."

"Maybe but someone is going to get mad, as in rage. Let's see who interferes." Damon smirks once more obviously happy with himself and Stefan shakes his head, he needs to make sure he doesn't lose Damon that way he can be present to witness Adele kicks his ass because he's sure that's what's to come in the very near future and he'd be damned if he missed it.

~x~

Adele huffs. You have got be kidding? Where the hell is he? Walking towards the parking lot Adele dials Michael's number once more; it did not take that long to hook up a speaker.

Looking up Adele spots Stefan ducking behind a car, Michael on the ground and two quickly retreating figures disappear into the darkness. Running over Adele drops down next to Michael just as Stefan reached him as well. "What the hell happened?" She demands grabbing a hold of Michael's head and looking him over. "You're bleeding!" Michael's black eyes unfocused and confused turn up to look at her. "Why did I just do that?"

"Do what?"

"I just picked a fight with Tyler." He answers her and she sits back to get a better look at him before glancing up at Stefan and then back at him.

"Why would you pick a fight with Tyler? You two are friends…and Tyler is like…in asshole during fights." Michael shakes his head. "I know, I just…I was working on the speaker and then I had this sudden urge to pick a fight with him, make him really mad and not back down. That's weird right?" Adele looks back up at Stefan narrowing her eyes as she watches him scratch the back of his neck somewhat nervously, like he knew something they didn't.

Mikey sounding crazy and Stefan looking guilty…It didn't take long to click. "That asshole!" She snaps standing up startling both Mikey and Stefan. "Where is he?" Stefan shakes his head and Adele takes off towards the fair in search for Damon.

~x~

Barging into the class room Elena texted her they we're in, Adele's blue eyes narrow dangerously at Damon who's eyes widen as he looks at her. "You asshole!" She snaps and Elena steps back out of her sister's path as she rushes towards Damon and when she reaches him she slaps him hard enough to leave a red mark but he of course barely feels it. "What the hell is wrong with you? First you kill my brother now you're compelling my friends to do your dirty work! If you're trying to make me hate you, it's working!" She of course is lying but he did not need to know that.

Gripping at his cheek Damon takes a deep breath. "Caroline is a vampire." He blurts mostly to distract her anger away from him and Adele's eyes widen as she takes a step back as if Damon had pushed her. "What?" She whispers harshly and he nods. "Did you just say Caroline is a vampire?" Elena and Damon turn towards the doorway. Seeing Stefan Elena rushes towards him but Adele's eyes are locked on Damon.

Damon nods and Stefan closes the door behind him as he steps fully into the room. "It was Katherine. She did it to sends us a message, in Caroline's own words, Game on." Every is silent for a good 5 minutes.

"How did this happen?" Stefan finally asks as he paces the room.

"Well I fed her blood, Katherine obviously killed her, so A plus B equals…" Adele shakes her head looking at the ground in disbelief. "Why would she do this?" She mutters more to herself than anyone else. "Because she is a manipulative nasty little slut." Damon answers her and Adele looks back up at him.

"She said Game on?" Stefan asks. "I mean what does that even mean?"

"That means she's playing dirty. She wants us to know"

"But why Caroline?" Elena speaks up and Damon shrugs a shoulder.

"Caroline must be completely out of her mind, she has no idea what's happening to her." Stefan says and Adele turns to him because she was worried about the same thing.

"Oh I think she does…all of my compulsion from the past started wearing off the minute she was in transition." Damon informs.

"We have to find her."

"Yep and kill her." Adele turns back to him, her eyes wide and once again she feels like slapping him.

"You're not going to kill Caroline." Elena says calming but Adele was anything but calm.

"She knows who we are, she's officially an ability. We have to get rid of her."

"Absolutely not!" Adele snaps and Damon looks down at her. "Might I remind you of the tragic little story of Vicki Donavon?" Adele presses her lips together taking a very large step back; he did not just through that in her face. "Yeah, Caroline of all people will not make it as a vampire; her mother is a vampire hunter. Guys come on we all know how the story ends we'll just flip to the last chapter and…"

"Were not killing Caroline!" Damon breaks off staring down at Adele noticing the edges of her blue eyes turning black. "No? Your silence is differing Stefan. Wait wasn't there a school carnival the night Adele staked Vicki?" Stefan scoffs looking downs. "Now I see how history repeats itself…you know I'm right." Stefan stands walking over to Damon.

"We're not going to kill her." Stefan walks from the room with Elena following close behind him. Damon once again looks down at Adele. "It's the only way."

"No, it your way and this time we're not doing it your way. You killed my brother…" Damon flinches. "You tried to kill my ex…" He flinches again. "You are not going to kill my best friend." With that she turns and makes it to the door before pausing and turning back. "What…what is wrong with you?" She whispers slightly causing Damon to turn away. She finally leaves the room, running to catch up with Stefan and Elena.

~x~

As the three round the corner still looking for Caroline, they spot her hugging Damon of all people and Adele notices the stake in his hand. "Damon!" Adele yells as her and Elena start to run but Stefan beats them there pushing the stake out of his hands and Caroline as far away from Damon as he could.

Adele rushes forward pulling Caroline into a hug and Caroline hugs her back tightly, crying into her shoulder finally relieved to have someone she knows and trusts there with her. Adele pulls away to hear what Caroline in muttering. "I'm so sorry." Adele blinks and turns her gaze towards the trailer letting out a sharp breath. "Mikey!"

Running over she boost herself on to the trailer crawling over to him. "Mikey…Mikey no." She whispers bringing her head down to his chest and she almost cries when she feels his chest rise slowly. "Is he…" Adele shakes her head sitting back up and glancing at Elena. "No. He's alive."

Hopping back off the trailer Elena and Adele go back over to Caroline but Caroline moves away from Elena, the fear clear on her face. "No! Get away from me! You killed me!" Elena's eyes widen. "No Caroline that was Katherine." Elena pleads.

"No! Than why did she look like you? Why did she do this to me?" Caroline cries and Adele steps forward once again wrapping her arms around her. "Caroline sh. It's okay; everything is going to be okay." Pulling away Adele looks to Stefan. "We need to get her inside."

"It's alright Caroline…" Stefan backs up all the while keeping his eyes on Damon. "Come with me." He grabs her hand while Damon crosses his arms. "It's only a matter of time. She will die." Stefan raises an eyebrow at his brother. "It's not going to happen tonight."

"Yeah…it is." With that Damon grabs the stake and with his vampire speed rushes over to them but Adele pushes Elena out of the way and positions herself directly in front of Caroline, Damon barely has the time to stop and the stake comes down stopping just before it breaks skin over her heart and though Adele can feel the wood against her skin she's not scared. Elena gasps and Stefan curses but Adele's expression is emotionless as she looks up at Damon. "She's my best friend Damon. You want to kill her, you kill me to." Adele knowing he wasn't going to kill her watches as he looks down at the stake before cursing. "Whatever happens it's on." Adele nods.

As he backs away Adele turns back to them as Stefan turns Caroline around but there all stopped by the sight of Bonnie who's expression suggest she can't believe what she's seeing. "Caroline? No…you can't be…"

"Oh for fucks sake." Adele breaths throwing her arms in the air as Bonnie runs forward to grab Caroline's arm before snatching her hand back with wide terrified eyes. "Bonnie…" Caroline whispers as Bonnie's eyes move past her to spot Michael still unconscious on the trailer. When Michael first moved to Mystic Falls his first real friend was Bonnie, they even tried dating in 7th grade but it just wasn't happening so they decided to stay friends and that they did. It was the one friend Michael and Adele never had in common.

Elena pushes Caroline lightly over to Stefan who leads her into the school and away from them as Adele turns back to Damon before storming over to him. "You see what happens when you mess with people? That…" She stops to point at Michael. "Would not have happened if you would have just left him alone."

"I'm sorry." He mutters and she shakes her head crossing her arms. "Why him Damon? There was guys everywhere, why him? And don't just say you picked him random because I know you saw me and him together earlier. Just tell me why." Looking at the ground Damon takes a deep breath before looking back up at her. There was no way to come out of this without her mad at him.

Before he can answer his hands fly up to grip at his head as he lets out a groan of pain and Adele's eyes widen. "Damon." Reaching out, she grabs a hold of his shoulders. He falls to his knees bringing Adele with him before falling to the side and she pulls him as close as possible brushing his hair out of his face to see what was going on as he's still clinching to his head and groaning. Adele jumps and looks up as the hose goes off spraying water and causing a stream to start that's leading towards the two of them.

"I told you what would happen if anyone got hurt." Looking up Adele realizes what's going on, it was Bonnie. Bonnie using her magic to cause Damon pain and what? Soak him? "It's not his fault." Elena defends and Bonnie barely glances at Elena. "Everything that happens is his fault Elena."

Adele clinches her teeth but refuses to leave him, holding on to him tighter. "Bonnie…what are you doing?" Elena asks as she looks from Bonnie to the water and back. Adele's eyes fly to the flames of the fire that starts quickly rolling towards them. "No…No." Adele mutters pushing herself away as Damon's eyes widen looking at the fire and then back at her but Adele has already crawled to the side and away from him.

Growing up Adele had only ever had a fear of spiders and losing everyone she ever cared about, those we're the only things she was truly ever afraid of but after this summer she can officially add fire to the short list and for some reason fire seemed to be one of the main things she was forced to face on a day to day bases and you would think it would get easier but it doesn't, if anything it just intensified her fear even more.

She's snapped from her thoughts as Damon starts to scream as the fire reaches him, crawling up his legs and she stumbles to her feet looking between him and Bonnie who is refusing to stop as Elena yells for her to, there both stuck on the other side of the fire and for a split second Adele feels helpless. It wasn't a feeling she liked. She saw only one way to get this under control and to save Damon's life.

Taking a huge breath Adele jumps through the line of growing fire and with a short jog she reaches Bonnie and while shaking Bonnie would break her focus Adele chooses instead that a hard right punch would work just as well if not better because how dare the witch hurt Damon? The only person a loud to hurt Damon at this point was Adele; at least that is what told herself.

Bonnie lands hard on the pavement, her hand reaching up to grip her bleeding nose as she stares wide eyed up at Adele. "Adele! What the hell?" Elena shirks bending down to Bonnie but one look from Adele and Elena shuts up, not daring to say anything else. All fear forgotten, Adele is livid her blue eyes almost consumed by black as she turns them back to Bonnie.

"You listen to me you little bitch, you have no right to accuse Damon of anything. Just because you're a fucking witch and your Anti-vampire does not mean your better than everyone else, do not pull this shit again, leave Damon alone or we'll just see how well your little powers are from preventing a broken jaw."

With that said Adele turns and her eyes fall back on Damon who is patting the last of the fire out on his jeans. Adele barely notices when Elena pulls Bonnie from the ground and the two stumble away to the school leaving just her and Damon and suddenly she feels drained, emotionally and physically drained.

Walking back over she drops to her knees in front of him and he pulls himself up looking at her as she bites the inside of her cheek. "I'm sorry." She finally mutters and he frowns. "For what?"

"For everything. For last night, for Caroline, for this…" Adele trails off as Damon shakes his head.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. Last night was all me, I gave Caroline the blood, Katherine killed her, Bonnie needed someone to blame it's just Katherine who's to blame."

"But…" Adele breaths but Damon cuts her off.

"No. Katherine is a wicked bitch and last night…last night, that was all me. I'm an ass and you have every right to hate me…"

"I don't." She whispers shaking her head. "I don't hate you, but I should. I should hate you. You killed my brother, you put my ex who is a really good friend in danger and you tried to kill my best friend, everything you've done gives me every right to hate you but I can't. I tried so hard, I'm still trying." Damon looks away but she reaches forwards cupping his face and making him look at her. "But I can't. There is no possible way for me to hate you, why? I'm not sure. I don't understand what's going on right now. I can't sort my feelings."

"You're not the only one Kitten." There are a lot of things he wants to say, things that she makes him feel, thinks that he's done a very good job of hiding but he can't find the right words to do so.

Leaning forward Adele leans her forehead against his and closes her eyes taking comfort in his presences. Resting her hands on his shoulders she goes to pull away finally ready to get up and tend to Michael but she gasps suddenly as Damon pulls her back to him, crushing his body into hers, her hands travel up to bury themselves in his hair as his lips cover hers in a hard and hungry kiss.

She knows that she should push him away, knows that kissing him right now after everything he'd done to her and still having to clean up part of his master plan that once again turned into a total mess on his part was what she had to focus on but his kiss had her reeling. It had her losing her train of thought completely and the only thing that matters at this point is Damon.

Nothing else mattered, not the fair in full swing or the people in the fair, not Elena, not Stefan, not Caroline being a vampire, not the fact that she could of quite possibly broken Bonnie's nose, not the death of Tony or the others and not Michael still bleeding and knocked out on the trailer behind them, just Damon and her but mostly Damon.

With the threat of running out of oxygen and her heart ready to pound out of her chest Adele finally pulls away while keeping her fingers knotted firmly in his hair because man she loves his hair.

With oxygen feeling her lungs once more and the fog he created in her mind clearing she's able to think more coherently…somewhat anyways.

She is able to remember where she is and what had just gone down and that Michael is _still _bleeding behind them. Turning her head to look over her shoulder she hears Damon sigh and it causes her to smirk before she turns back to him. "We have to tend to him."

Turning his darkened blue eyes over to the trailer, he doesn't response and she sighs bending down to lay her head on his shoulder mostly because he's warm and it's kind of chilly out. "Please Damon. He's important to me; I can't just let him die." She mumbles into his leather jacket and with her so close to him, who is he to refuse?

~x~

Everything that happened after they finally pulled themselves away from each other was kind of a blur to Adele; she was still somewhat dazed, still majorly affected by the kiss that she should've seem coming but she didn't, it had taken her completely off guard and maybe if she would've seen it coming she could've stopped it, then her thoughts wouldn't be entirely filled with Damon.

But then again…her thoughts we're filled with nothing but Damon and thinking about Damon kept her from thinking about anything else, weather that was entirely a good thing she wasn't sure yet.

After changing into a pair of shorts and a tank top, she flops down on her bed staring up at her glow in the dark stars that don't actually glow anymore. Closing her eyes, she pictures the kiss in her head again like she had done so many times since arriving home. Biting the inside of her cheek, she's almost not aware of her finger brushing over her still numb lips, a small smile spreads across her face and she laughs slightly before frowning. "Oh god." She breaths out her eyes reopened and wide stare at her ceiling once again.

~x~

"I'm heading over to meet Elena. I'm probably going to stay at her house tonight; she's pretty riled about the whole Caroline thing." Stefan informs his older brother as he stands in the door way of Damon's room.

Damon who is sat in his desk chair with a glass of Bourbon in one hand and the other hand running along his jaw, his fingers tracing over his lips lightly as he stares out the open window into the night, does not glance up at Stefan nor does he even seem to realize Stefan is standing there.

"Damon…" There is no answer causing Stefan to frown looking around the room to see if something was wrong which he of course finds nothing as he looks back to Damon. "Okay, I'm just going to go see if I can find some combat turtles and then get together an army of bunnies to see if we can take over the world, I'll be back sometime next week. Don't wait up." Stefan watches for some sort of reaction because that line was so stupid Damon was sure to response to it.

But he doesn't, he just…sits there, staring out the window still running his fingers over his lips and grinning and it's really starting to freak Stefan out as he throws his arms in the air. "Okay whatever. I'll see you later Damon." With that he leaves, leaving Damon alone in the house.

It was true, Damon did not hear a word his brother had said, he didn't even know he was there he was so lost in his own mind. He kissed her and she kissed him back. She actually kissed him back.

He seriously wonders if he's dreaming, if this is all just some really amazing dream that he wishes to never wake up from but no this wasn't a dream because it felt to damn good to be a dream plus he's surrounded by the scent of smoke, that scent your clothes pick up when they get wet and then dry and vanilla. It's official he knows exactly what he wants.

He wants Adele all to himself. There was no doubt in his mind that he cared for her, enough to want to protect her from anything that would hurt her, but before tonight he wasn't sure just how much he cared.

The blonde had swooped into his life so fast that she took him by complete surprise leaving him confused and frustrated because until tonight he thought he still loved Katherine, but it all became clear. The whole night was a wakeup call for him. He thought he loved Katherine but throughout the day he found himself comparing the two. Adele and Katherine, who was better? Katherine is pretty, she not pretty she's beautiful but to him Adele is stunning, every time he saw her she took his breath away and yes there are people who would disagree with him.

Katherine is cold hearted and selfish, Adele is...she's mean and sarcastic but she cares and she would rather herself get hurt than anyone else.

Katherine is a coward, Adele is tough. While Katherine runs from her problems, Adele likes to face them head on, she knows what's she up against beforehand and she's ready when it hits and if she's not she finds a way to beat it anyways. With her it's protect what's important or die trying and he admires her for it. He's noticed that she's stronger than the average human.

When it comes to someone else's feelings, she doesn't play around unlike Katherine. Even if she doesn't know what she's feeling towards you, she'll tell you that if you ask but she doesn't like to talk about feelings he's noticed, she would rather stray from that topic for as long as possible. Katherine just likes to mess around with people's feelings and leave them broken in the end. Overall he come to the conclusion Adele was just…better in every way possible.

He knew he messed up and during the night when she blatantly ignored him, it hurt and then he would do something completely stupid and compel someone she obviously cares about to get into a fight with Tyler Lockwood which of course put him in danger and she of course found out and she slapped him which hurt even more. He then to make it worse for himself tried to kill Caroline, her best friend. He almost staked her because she like the amazing person she is pushed herself in the line of danger to save Caroline. He almost killed her, if he hadn't been able to stop when he did he would have and he would not have been able to live with that.

When he's finally able to tell her what he's been thinking these past days, why he's done the things he has Bonnie gets in the way and does that freakin' head thing, which actually hurts, like really hurts but Adele was there, she was right there with him, holding him and concerned you know until Bonnie tried to burn him alive, in which she freaked out because…she's afraid…of fire.

But she still saved his life, while in excruciating pain he was still able to notice her jumping across the line of fire and punching Bonnie and to top it all off she threatened her for him.

She confessed to him, that she didn't hate him like he was sure she did. She told him that she couldn't, for some reason she just can't but she's confused, that's when he decided he needed to kiss her. The urge had been strong for some time now but looking at her than, watching her try to unfold her feelings right in front of him made the urge unbearable.

And when he did finally get to kiss her, the realization hits him. He's completely, 100 percent, head over heels, in love with Adele Gilbert.

"Oh god." He breaths out his eyes widening slightly. What has he gotten himself into?

**There it is! Chapter 18! This chapter was kind of hard to get out because I wanted to cover Damon's feelings for Adele which took some time to think of the right things to write. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please please review. **

_**Previews for the next chapter:**_

_**Alaric, Elena, Adele and Damon take a trip to Duke. **_

_**Adele finds something's from the summer. **_


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19, finished! Yay! Lolz. Anyways, I've got almost 100 reviews and I'm hoping to pass 100 by a good amount with this chapter. Thank you to all that support my story. It means a lot. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

**Enjoy. (:**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 19: Bad Moon Rising<strong>

His lips move from her neck, across her collar bone, over her bra clad chest, down her toned and tan stomach, to her hips, where he uses his tongue to trace the waist band of her jeans causing a soft moan to escape her as she grips his sheets in her hands. He kisses back up her body, lingering a bit longer under her breast before moving to her ear.

Her arms circle around him pulling him as close as possible, wanting to feel him against her. "Do you want me?" She doesn't answer him, what kind of question was that? Did he not notice her completely at his mercy underneath him? Did he not feel her trembling? Did he not hear her moans? What the hell kind of question is that?

"Adele…" He breaths and she shivers, her name falling from his lips was like music, the best kind there was. "Answer me. Do you want me?" He kisses behind her ear, a soft spot she has come to find out and it causes her to moan once again. "Yes Damon, Yes."

Her eyes spring open and she sits up, her breath coming in small pants as her eyes adjust to the darkness of her room. She's not exactly sure what had woken her up, the realization that she was having a dream, a very hot and very real like dream about Damon or her ringing phone on the bedside table next to her. Either way, she curses. This has not been her week. Not at all.

Reaching a shaking hand over she snatches the phone off the bedside table quickly, answering it without actually looking to see who it was, something she does quite offend now. "Hello?"

"Why do you sound all breathless and what not? Nightmare?" Oh great, just who she needed to be talking to. Damon.

"N-no. I was just out running, is all." It's a perfect lie. She runs all the time, you know she just hasn't had much time to…in like a mouth now and he probably knows that. Okay not so perfect lie after all. Shit.

"Mhm." He mummers and she closes her eyes. Yeah, he knew she was lying. "So anyways, you need to come to the boarding house, like now."

_Why would I want to do that? Just the sight of you sends me off the rails. _"Uh, yeah okay. I'll be there in like 20 minutes."

She hangs up and throws the phone to the end of her bed before drawing her knees up to her chest and hugging them. She blames him and that night, last weekend when he kissed her. Ever since then, she hasn't been able to stand within a mile of him without wanting to like…jump him or kiss him or touch him, something along the lines of physical contact that could just ease her raging, out of control teenage hormones. Why did he have to kiss her? Just…why?

~x~

She slips her phone into the back pocket of her skirt as she opens the door to the boarding house and slips in quietly. Turning around she jumps and presses herself back against the door, her blue eyes wide as she looks up at Damon who is standing extremely close. "Damon…" She breaths out once again breathless. "Don't do that." _And back up, damn it back up!_

"Sorry." He mummers his eyes traveling over her, the two of them haven't seen much of each other since that night, with Damon trying to figure out what is up with the Lockwoods and Adele helping Stefan get Caroline under control before they send her back into reality, which actually happens today if he's not mistaken, Stefan has had It arranged for Bonnie to make her a day light ring today.

But he can't think about Caroline for too long, not with Adele standing here in a short jean skirt and a tank top looking every bit…desirable. "So…what am I here for?"

He steps closer yet she's pleading in her head for him not to. He's so close to her that she can feel the heat of his body radiating off of him. "Can't I just want to see you?" He whispers as his eyes land on her lips and she swallows. "Yes…but…there has to be a reason Stefan and Elena are watching us from the couch right now."

Turning his head Damon's able to see the two from over his shoulder, and as he looks at them they quickly look away, trying to make it seem like they hadn't been watching them. He turns back to her. "Point taken." He mummers taking her hand in his to lead her into the room and even the simple hand holding was exciting which makes him think…He should've kissed her a long time ago.

~x~

It doesn't take long for Alaric to arrive at the boarding house after having Elena call him and ask him to come and instead of sitting Adele is wandering the room, looking over the many books in the book shelves.

"Elena called and said you needed my help." Alaric mentions as he takes a seat on the couch across from Stefan and Elena as Damon takes a seat in a chair off to the side.

"We were hoping you could help shed some light on the Lockwood family." This catches Adele's interest and she turns slowly to look over everyone in the room. "The Lockwoods?" She mutters pushing off the book shelve she was inspecting to walk back over and join them.

"Why would I know anything about the Lockwood's?" Alaric asks, mainly confused but also somewhat curious. Adele walks past Damon, on her way to sit next to Alaric when Damon reaches out, catching her wrist and yanking her down, causing her to lose her balance and fall into his lap where she looks up somewhat dazed at him. Looks like this is where she's going to sit instead.

"Well you wouldn't, but your dead…not dead vampire wife might." Alaric sighs looking down, did he really have to keep rubbing that Isobel is a heartless vampire in his face?

"Isobel's research, from when you guys were at Duke together." Elena adds noticing Alaric's discomfort at Damon's comment. Adele wonders where this is going and why she's been left out of the Lockwood conversion until now.

"You said that she had spent years researching this town." Stefan mentions and Alaric nods. "Isobel's research about Mystic Falls was folklore and legend at the time which I thought most was fiction."

This causes Damon to smirk. "Like that amazing vampire story." Despite herself Adele smiles.

"Besides vampires what else?" Elena asks and Alaric looks at her.

"The lycanthrope." Damon frowns and turns his head to look at Stefan who looks back at him just as confused but the Gilbert twins turns to each other as well more out of disbelief than confusion. Both of them lean forward and Damon wraps an arm around Adele's waist to keep her in his lap. "Lycanthrope?" She asks just to make sure she heard him right and Alaric nods. "Lycanthrope as in like werewolves?" She smirks at Alaric and he nods again.

"No way." Damon shifts leaning forward as well pressing his chest into her back which is distracting. "Way to Lon Chaney."

Stefan gazes at his brother. "Is it?" Because he believes it might not be that crazy.

"I've been on this planet 160 some odd years and I've never come across one…If werewolves exist where the hell are they?" Adele frowns slightly because she had never given much thought to how old Damon actually is; shaking herself out of her thoughts she glances at each of them. "Why do you all suspect the Lockwoods?"

"Because vervain didn't affect the mayor, but the Gilbert device did and it affected his son Tyler." Damon informs her and Stefan nods his agreement. "And at the carnival his Uncle Mason showed in human behavior when he fought Michael." Adele glances up at Stefan. _So that's what happened_. "It suggested some sort of supernatural thing." He adds.

"Okay wait." Everyone turns to Adele in question. "Are you suggesting that Mason and Tyler Lockwood are werewolves? Like big, hairy only turn on the full moon _dogs_? I mean like, I've known them my whole life…that's just…" She pauses thinking it over carefully and frowning. "Not that hard to believe actually." She mutters her shoulders slumping forward slightly. "I think the idea is crazy." Damon mummers behind her causing Adele to shake her head. How was it that hard to believe? After all if he looked at it her way, she is sitting in the lap of a 160 something year old _vampire_.

"We were hoping that Isobel's research would help us." Elena speaks up again and Alaric shrugs. "Well all of her things are still at Duke, I mean her office is still there, technically she's still missing."

Damon finally leans back and Adele sighs somewhat in relief and somewhat because she misses the contact. "Can we get access to it?" When Alaric doesn't answer Damon sighs. "Ric, we don't know what we're dealing with. If this wolf man thing is true I've seen enough movies to know it's not good. It means that Mason Lockwood is a real life Lon Chaney and that little Tyler punk might be Lon Chaney Jr. This means that Bela Lugosi meaning me is totally screwed." All four of them are staring at the history teacher, waiting for his answer.

"Yeah okay, I'll make a few calls."

~x~

Coming back into the room Alaric nods to them. "Okay, we can go today."

"Okay so Alaric, Damon, Adele and you should head up there." Elena's gaze snaps over to look at Stefan. "You're not going?"

"Caroline still needs my help, I have to stay and help her."

"Okay so it's the four of us. Cool. Who's driving?" Adele asks finally being able to stand up.

"Me."

"Me." Elena and Adele glance at each other before looking back at Alaric and Damon who stand staring at each other after claiming they we're both driving at the same time.

"I'm driving." Damon states after a minute and Alaric shakes his head. "I'd feel more comfortable driving."

"I don't care how comfortable you feel, I'm driving." Adele sighs reaching up to fix her hair.

"Okay how about this, Alaric drives his car, Damon drives his." Adele looks to them for any signs of disagreement but finds none.

"I'll go with Alaric." Elena speaks up and Adele blinks over to her. "Then I guess I'll ride with Damon."

~x~

"Ty, I would love to go to the swimming hole but…" Tyler sighs and Adele can just imagine him rolling his eyes. "I hate that word when it comes to you."

"I'm driving up to Duke. My birth mother still has an office down there so Elena and I figure if we can't meet her we'll take the next best thing." Adele's blue eyes look up from the small bag she's packing because they weren't sure just how long this small road trip was going to take, to look at Damon as he slips into the room. "I'll call you later, let you know how it went."

"Please do." Before she has the chance to hang up Tyler says her name. "Yeah?" She mummers softly.

"Love you." She stops what's she's doing and smiles down at her bag.

"Love you to Ty." She hangs up shoving the phone into her back pocket before zipping up the backpack and throwing it over her shoulder. "We're just waiting for Elena to finish." And Adele scoffs brushing past him quickly. "No need to wait. I know my way to Duke, we can beat them there."

Following closely behind her Damon looks to Alaric as they reach the bottom of the stairs, Alaric is waiting in the living room for Elena with Jenna. "We're leaving." Adele announces and Jenna glances at Alaric before looking back at her. "You're not going with Ric?"

Adele shakes her head. "Damon wants to drive so I agreed to ride with him, I know my way, we'll be fine."

Jenna sighs practically glaring at Damon, she wants to say no. She wants to scream it but Adele is 17 and not like Elena. She won't do as she's told, she never really has. So Jenna sucks it up. "Take care of her."

Damon nods. "Of course." With that said Adele pulls him from the house, and over to his top less Camaro where she throws her bag into the back seat. "May I ask how you know your way to Duke?" Damon asks as he slips into the driver seat and Adele sends him a smirk as she closes the door to her side after sliding into the car as well. "Have you like completely forgotten who you're talking to? I use to go to parties down at Duke with Mikey, like all the time." Snorting a laugh Damon throws the car into drive. "No, it's impossible to forget when you're talking to you."

~x~

With her heels discarded on the floorboard and sunglasses on, Adele has her feet sticking out the car as she fiddles with the radio trying to find something to listen to, besides the crap that was on before.

Damon's not above stealing glances at her as she does, with her legs up like that it causes her skirt to hike up her thighs and it's distracting. She finally stops messing with the radio and he hears a song he actually doesn't know but she seems very pleased with. "Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day." She informs and he nods a smirk playing on his lips.

She's watching there surrounding pass by as they drive further away from Mystic Falls and he can see that she's slowly relaxing. Reaching over he takes a hold of her hand in his and she turns to look at him, watching as he brings it up to his lips and kisses her knuckles softly which causes her to smile at him. It's such a sweet gesture, so…innocent and un Damon like that she wonders briefly…what the hell happened to Damon?

But she doesn't mind because this…this is nice, like really nice and it feels good. Her, Damon and the road leading them away from Mystic Falls, only if it was leading them away for good, like they could just keep driving and not stop. As soon as the thought enters her mind, she feels guilty.

She feels guilty for wanting to be…carefree. Like she was before all this stuff happened, when she didn't give two shits about what happened tomorrow or even the next minute, all that mattered was what was happening in that moment in time. Now she has to think about tomorrow, she has to worry about the next minute because she's not sure what's tragedy is going to strike next.

But why can't she want to go back to that feeling? It was easier when life was like that. It'd be easier if it was because she could tell Damon to keep driving, to screw Elena and Stefan and the rest of them; that she was done and she wanted to see the world with him by her side and she knows he'd gladly comply if it wasn't for all the drama back home.

~x~

For the first time since he's gotten to Mystic Falls, he feels like doing something purely for himself. It seems like he doesn't do much for himself anymore, sure he pulled that whole tomb thing but that was for Katherine who wasn't even in the tomb and everything else, everything he's done to help save Mystic Falls since had been for everyone else, to save everyone else.

Now he just wants to forget about it, like wipe it from his mind completely so that all there is is him and Adele driving to…where ever they end up. It would just be better that way.

But he can't do that, because he knows Adele won't go for it. She's loyal and he knows that, so he shouldn't even be thinking about it. Though he is and he's not sure he's going to be able to stop.

The song seems to abruptly change, though he's sure that's not the case, he just wasn't paying enough attention to listen to the other song but this song he knows.

Ain't No Rest for the Wicked by Cage the Elephants and he can't help but smile as Adele starts to sing along word for word, dancing around in her seats slightly.

She's looking at him, because she knows he knows the song and he knows what she wants. So yes, he too starts to sing along and it has her singing louder and soon there singing at the top of their lungs very badly he might add but it doesn't matter because it's amazing.

~x~

He parks in one of two free spaces in the front of the building before shutting off the car and leaning back. They have of course arrived before Alaric and Elena and he's not sure just how long it will take for them to get there because he's not sure just how far behind they are.

Adele pulls her legs back into the car and curls them up underneath her, she couldn't help the twinge of disappointment she feels looking up at the building in front of her.

As if sensing her small amount of disappointment Damon turns to her. "Something wrong?"

She doesn't answer him as she continues to stare up at the building, as if her mind was somewhere else completely and for all he knows it might be. Reaching over he places a finger under her chin to turn her head to look at him and her eyes slowly come back into focus. "What's wrong Kitten?" He asks gently and she blows out a breath of air.

"I don't know. I just…I feel like this is all a very bad dream, like everything that's happen is wrapped in some sort of nightmare that we just can't escape from."

"We're escaping now, even if it's just for a few hours." She turns her body in the seat so she's facing him.

"Are we? I mean come on Damon, the only reason we even came here is to gather information to prove to you guys that werewolves are real, which they are just so you know and I'm sure we're also here to see if Isobel had any information on Katherine that we don't already know just so we can know what our future lays for us, weather we're completely doomed or not but don't get me wrong, I welcome days like this because the threat of one of us dying is less likely but still _possible_."

And he gets it. He gets what she's saying because it's all true but he doesn't get a chance to tell her before she's shaking her head. "It doesn't matter though. This is my life and I have to deal with it. I have to just…deal." She closes her eyes and Damon moves his hand to cup her cheek. It hasn't accrued to him until now just how hurt she is by everything that's happened. That underneath her strong persona she is breakable and he wonders if she isn't already what more would it take to shatter who she is? What will it take to completely break the person he's fallen in love with? Because everyone has a breaking point.

Opening her eyes, she sees the thoughtful expression on his face like he's thinking hard about everything she just said. After a moment he blinks as if noticing that she's staring back at him, he gives her a small smile at which she returns. There's nothing more the two have to say about the situation, they seemed to…understand each other. Something nobody seemed to want to accept.

His blue eyes fall to her lips, he wants to kiss her again. Without realizing what he's doing, he leans forward noting how she does the same but before he can kiss her she seems to have second thoughts as she turns her head away, her eyes closed tight and he sighs baring his face in the crook of her neck.

He inhales deeply taking in her vanilla scented perfume mixed with a sweet scent that is just purely her and it makes his mouth water and his throat burn. He can feel his fangs growing and the veins under his eyes pulsing. "God, you smell so good." He mummers against her neck causing a shiver to slide down her spine, he doesn't like the way she's able to test his self-control so easily. A sudden honking causing Damon to pull away and he's glad his face as gone back to normal as he sees it's Alaric's SUV that the honking is coming from.

~x~

"So Isobel was officially employed by the Anthropology department given that most paranormal activity was rooted in folk lore" Alaric explains to them as they walk through the doors of Duke, Adele really didn't care. Anything having to do with her birth mothers past Adele wanted nothing to do with, but yet here she is about to walk into what Isobel's past was mostly consumed of.

Rounding a corner Alaric spots a young college student going through some wooden filing cabinets beside the lone desk in the room. "Excuse me…I'm Alaric Saltzman, I called earlier." The girl closes the filing cabinet quickly and looks up at the four of them in surprise. "Yes…" She laughs lightly, somewhat embarrassed by the scare. "I'm Vanessa Monroe, Research assistant. Come parried to Folk lore." The girl takes a moment to look them all over, her gaze lingering on Damon a bit longer than Adele was comfortable with and she made that known by stepping in front of him and crossing her arms over her chest as she stares the girl down. It was moments like this where she curses her possessive streak. Damon isn't hers to be possessive over but that doesn't stop him from smirking in satisfaction.

"Let me just grab Isobel's keys." The girl stutters as she turns away from the blonde, who didn't look very nice compared to the brunette next to her. Alaric stops her after having a sudden thought. "Oh I'm sorry, these are my friends, Elena, Adele and Damon. I hope this isn't too much of a problem." The girl laughs but it doesn't sound very convincing to Adele. She can sense a hint of uneasiness behind it.

"Isobel's office is right through there. Isobel was one of my first professors, I'm a grad student. She was brilliant, one of the reasons I went into folk lore." The girl pauses somewhat awkwardly as she takes a seat on the edge of the desk. "I have to ask…has there been any news?" Adele rolls her eyes and bites her tongue.

"No, no I'm afraid not."

The girl nods slowly before jumping up and turning to the right. "It's right this way."

She unlocks a massive wooden door and swings it open softly letting them all into the decent sized dark office beyond. "I'll get the lights, feel free to look around, it's fascinating isn't it?"

She makes a break for the shelves straight ahead, Elena following closely behind her. Adele shakes her head as she studies the things scattered around. "Leave it to us to be born from a mother who's a freak." She mutters and it causes Elena to look at her pressing her lips together to suspense a smile.

"Where did she go?" Damon voices from the other side of the room and both Elena and Adele look over. Out of the corner of her eye Adele sees the girl return holding a bow and arrow up and aiming it straight for them. Adele reacts immediately pushing Elena has hard as she can to the side, causing the brunette to stagger harshly to the left and lose her balance.

Just as she does push Elena out of the way she hears the release of the bow but the blow never comes, instead she's flattened against the shelves, her hands gripping tightly to something soft and she hears a painful groan from above her. Opening her closed eyes Adele lets out a harsh surprised breath as her blue eyes met Damon's before he falls to the side. Looking around Adele notices Alaric pinning the girl to the wall and Elena rushing over to them before she drops down beside Damon.

~x~

"Pull it out." Adele clenches and unclenches her fist as she stares at the arrow in Damon's back as he leans forward onto Isobel's desk. "Kitten…Pull the damn thing out. It hurts." With a deep steadying breath Adele grips the arrow in one hand and while placing her other on his shoulder. With one hard yank the arrow comes free and causes Damon to straighten up with a grunt. "Ow." He snaps with a shudder as Adele throws the blood stained arrow onto the desk.

"That bitch is dead." He turns around to face her with wild and untamed icy eyes and Adele rolls her own eyes. "You're not going to kill her." Adele says and Damon stops inches away from her and his eyes narrow as a dangerous yet sexy as hell smirk appears on his beautiful face. "Watch me." His voice is low, seductive like and Adele can feel the effects of it as the muscles in her stomach clench. She's not seriously getting turned on by a guy threating to kill someone is she? What is wrong with her? Better yet why is Damon so damn…sexy?

He brushes past her and Adele whirls around. "If you touch her I swear I will never speak to you again." Stopping at the door Damon turns back to look at her. "What makes you think that has any power over me?" Adele watches as he starts his way back over in a lazy fashion. "Because I took an arrow in the back for you?" Finally reaching her he throws an equally lazy arm over her left shoulder. "You are severely overestimating yourself." Rolling her eyes, she gives him one of her famous man eating smiles. "Am I?" She whispers blinking up at him.

Damon is momentarily taken back. She has never given him a look like that before. With huge blue eyes mixed with that smile, the look is so innocent and sinful at the same time. He's seen that look before, it's the same look she gave that poor bartender back when he had Caroline throw that party at the grill to get back his necklace. He had wondered then who else has fallen victim to that look in the past and who would fall victim to it in the future, he just never expected it to be him.

When he doesn't response Adele nods. "Exactly." With that she pushes past him and waits for him to follow her before opening the door as she hears the girl yelling about how Katherine's supposed to be dead along with Damon Salvatore. "Well one thing is for sure, Katherine should be dead. Bitch needs to die." Stopping beside her sister Adele looks at her. "Have you explained to her yet that you are _not_ Katherine?" Elena only shakes her head and Adele turns back to the girl.

"Well she's not. She's Elena Gilbert and I'm Adele Gilbert we are Isobel's daughters and decedents of Katherine." Glancing back Adele meets Damon's icy eyes before turning back to her. "And that is Damon Salvatore, who you just shot."

"I'd be extra nice to me right now." He warns and Vanessa looks frightened before Elena speaks.

"We need your help. We need to see all of Isobel's research relating to Mystic Falls." The girl doesn't move all she does is look at the four of them still with that frightened look.

Adele wasn't fond of the girl when they arrived, she even less fond of her now. "That means get up and get it." She snaps and the girl jumps to her feet rushing into Isobel's office. Elena looks at Adele. "Really? You had to do that?" Adele rolls her eyes. "At the rate things we're progressing, we'd be standing here all night. I don't have the patients for that."

~x~

Adele's eyes follow Vanessa as she grabs a box before bringing it to them. "This box tracks Katherine's arrival to Mystic Falls in April of 1864."

"Is that all there is about her?" Elena asks and Vanessa nods. "All that I'm aware of."

Adele noticing Vanessa's eyes traveling back and forth between them and Damon shakes her head before grabbing a thing of vervain from the box. Sure it's dying but it would still work. "Take it." Adele demands softly and Vanessa looks between the small purple flower and her. "Does vervain really work?" Adele nods. "Nope not at all." All three girls look up and over to Damon who is in the other room looking through stuff.

"Can he hear us?" she whispers and Adele smirks as Damon answers for her. "No that would be creepy."

"Can he read minds to?" Vanessa jokes starting to loosen up a bit around them, Adele can see.

"You know if you want to see me naked all you have to do is ask." Adele looks back at him with her hands on the table. "Oh my god! You never told me you could read minds!" Rolling her eyes Adele looks back at Vanessa. "This isn't twilight Hun. As long as you have vervain the only thing he can do besides eavesdrop is be a first rate jackass."

20 minutes later and Adele is searching through the box alone, Elena having ditched her to see if she could find anything else. "Find anything?" Glancing up through her lashes Adele shakes her head. "Nothing we don't already know."

"To bad I'm a first rate jackass or I could tell you what I know." Stopping Adele fully looks up at him. "If you think I'm going to take that back, your setting yourself up from disappointment." Before he has the chance to give a response Alaric calls them over.

Alaric hands a book over to Vanessa and she turns to them as they reach her. "There are no records of werewolf mythology in Mystic Falls but here are some records of some of the lesser known Legends. It's everything from um, Scandinavian Skinwalkers to Marshall Drewrits." She hands the book off to Damon and both Elena and Adele crowd around him to look at it.

Vanessa says something that Adele does not catch before explaining to them what it means. The curse of the sun and the moon. "It's native American." Alaric says and as Adele looks at the book she knows he's wrong. "No, Aztec." She corrects causing Elena to frown at her but Adele ignores it. "This here looks like it explains one origin of the werewolf curse." Adele mummers taking the book from Damon to get a better look as Vanessa nods at her. "Traced through Virginia."

"How do you…" Adele glances up at Elena quickly. "You'd be surprised what random information can do for you. I found folk lore fascinating between the ages of 12 and when I met officially met Mikey." She looks back at Vanessa. "I might know what language this is but I suck at reading it. Explain it."

"The short story 600 years ago the Aztec's were plagued by werewolves and vampires, they terrorized the country side, they made farming and hunting impossible. Until an Aztec shaman cursed them making vampires slaves to the sun and werewolves servants of the moon. As a result vampires could only prowl at night and werewolves only turn on a full moon. When the full moon crest in the sky whoever is unlucky enough to fall under the werewolf curse turns into a wolf."

"Can they control the transformation?" Damon asks looking out the only window in the office. Adele stares down at the book in her hands. She partially lied when she told Elena that she had a fascination with Folk Lore back when and that's why she knew so much, she did have a fascination with it, that was true but she didn't go very far into The Lycanthrope legend, it wasn't until she met Tony that she really learned about them.

"If it were a choice it wouldn't be called a curse." Vanessa retorts looking back at Damon who only sends her a tight smile not finding any of this funny. Vanessa continues with the story. "Werewolves will attack humans but instinct in centuries of revelry have hardwired them to hunt there pray of choice."

Adele's eyes snap up from the book. "Vampires." She mutters as she remembers exactly everything that Tony had said to her about them. Damon rushes over to them, stepping up next to Adele. "If werewolves are hunting vampires I would know about it." Adele scoffs placing the book on the table. "Yeah not." She huffs and Vanessa nods looking up at Damon. "There isn't that many werewolves left alive. 100's of years ago vampires hunted them almost to extension."

"Why would they do that?" Elena asks and Adele sighs pushing some hair of her hair off her shoulder so it falls behind her. "Werewolf bites are fatal to vampires." Adele informs looking up at her sisters. "FYI." She mutters as Elena looks back at her just as Adele turns her gaze up at Damon who is staring down at her. "Are you positive on that?" He mutters and she nods. "Oh."

~x~

Looking out the window once again Adele frowns. "Do you guys seriously think the Lockwoods are werewolves?" Adele mutters to Damon who stops next to her. "If what everyone here is saying is true than yes."

"Hey…Have you done any research on Doppelgangers?" The question has everyone's attention back on Vanessa. "The word means many different things to many different cultures but basically it means that a doppelganger is a living breathing double of one self."

"Did Isobel have anything that explains the link between me and Katherine?"

Vanessa shrugs. "That is all she had on Katherine unfortunately."

Elena swallows as she places the photo of Katherine that she's holding back on the desk and Vanessa sighs leaning forward. "Doppelgangers usually torment the people they look like, trying to undo their lives. It's not exactly up lifting." Nodding Elena looks back down at the photo. "And more things we already know. I just…I want to know why we look alike."

"Head scratcher isn't it?" Pressing her lips together Elena turns to look over at Damon still standing next to Adele.

"Do you know something or are you just being yourself?"

"Well if I did know anything I'm not going to tell you, not with that attitude."

Elena nods. "Coming from someone who wants to be my friend, you know what? Friends don't manipulate friends. They help each other." With that said Elena storms from the room which causes Adele to sigh. She had been hostile with Damon this whole tripped due to Stefan spilling his guts to her about Damon killing Jeremy, but Adele has to attempt that Damon was not helping his case at all.

"Nice Damon, you're not a first rate jackass after all." She mutters before going after her.

~x~

"Come on Elena. You're overreacting." Stopping short Elena spins around to face her sister who is walking up slowly having followed her out of the building. "You would say that because you so team Damon right now it's almost sick."

Stopping as well Adele raises an eyebrow before she laughs, a harsh and cold sound that makes Elena flinch. "It's almost sick? Coming from the girl who spends all her time with Stefan or thinking about Stefan or worrying about Stefan or talking about Stefan, when Stefan's name comes out of your mouth _it is_ sick. Don't get me wrong Elena, I like Stefan, he's a good guy but not everyone can be Stefan and he's not perfect, not by a long shot." She pauses for a second and Elena seeing she's not finished doesn't say anything.

"Damon is…he's Damon." She throws her arms up before shaking her head and looking up at the black sky. "There's nothing more I can say besides that. You have to work with him; he's not just going to give you everything you want because you ask for it."

"He'll give you everything because he's like almost obsessed with you and _that_ worries me." Blinking at her sister Adele sighs. "Why Elena? Why does that worry you? Please, do tell."

"Because we all saw how Katherine worked out for him and we all know what Damon is like."

"No you don't. You don't know him. You can clam you do, you can pretend you do and you convince a lot of people that you do but you don't know him because you don't give yourself the chance to get to know him. All you see is an arrogant, self-serving, psycho vampire. Am I right?" When Elena doesn't say anything Adele nods. "Exactly, but that's not who Damon is. I know who he is, you don't. Do not pretend you do."

Elena stares at her sister with narrowed eyes. "Do you love him?" Adele sucks in a breath and takes a step back her blue eyes wide and if Elena didn't know better she would think someone just slapped her by the look on her face.

Elena's eyes move from her sister to look up at the steps leading into the building and Adele notices her sisters attention was now focused on something else behind her which causes Adele to turn around sharply. Standing on the last step is Damon, his eyes just as wide as Adele's as they meet hers, having heard most of their conversion.

Adele doesn't hear Elena call her crazy, she doesn't hear her stomping away, she doesn't hear anything. All she's focused on is Damon as he gets closer and closer to her and as he reaches her, he wives his hands through her hair and she closes her eyes, reaching up to grip at his shirt like she had earlier as he kisses her.

Much like last time, the kiss is hard and hungry but it's also needy and disparate and she pulls him closer, because she needs him closer. She pulls back slightly to look up at him. "I'm not ready to love anyone yet." He nods. "Me either." And he kisses her again. Though he was clear on his feelings for her, he knew that they couldn't have come at a worse time.

~x~

There a good 30 minutes from Mystic Falls when Damon suddenly reaches back and grabs a book that he had thrown in the back seat before they began on the road. He had just remembered it was back there. "You girls didn't dig deep enough." Narrowing her eyes Adele frowns. "What?" He hands her the book. "Petrova?" Adele asks softly as she looks down at it and Damon nods. "Katherine is originally from Europe, her real name is Katherina Petrova."

"How did you know that?"

"Back when…I saw it engraved on an old family air loom, guys snoop to you know." Smirking Adele places the book in her lap. "Oh I know. What did you do with that picture of me exactly?"

"Oh, it's safe and sound where you will never find it." She laughs softly looking back out the window. "So…" Turning back she blinks at Damon. "How did you know that werewolves we're real and how did you know there bite is fatal to vampires?" The question has bugged him all day.

"Tony." She mummers so soft even his amazing hearing almost doesn't catch it. "Is he…" Adele nods. "Was. He's dead."

"Was he a vampire?" Adele nods again. "Yeah. One night while having a…bon fire in the woods, we we're attacked by one and he killed it. He was than focused to tell me everything there was to know about them." Damon nods and doesn't push on the matter of Tony and whoever else "we" was, he knows she's not ready to talk about it.

Pulling up to the Gilbert house 40 minutes later Damon shuts off the car and leans back, much like he did when they had arrived at Duke. Adele turns to face him needing to say something now because if she didn't, she never would.

"I don't…I'm not exactly sure what I'm feeling right now Damon. I'm…I'm hurt, I'm sad, I'm worried, I'm confused…" He turns to her as well. "I understand Adele. You lost the person you loved…"

"But that shouldn't stop me from loving someone else. I know that and it won't. I just need time. I have feelings for you Damon, I know I do I'm just not sure what they are yet."

"If you're asking me to leave you alone to think, I can't do that. I can't not be around you. I won't push your decision, I won't do anything to sway it but I can't leave you alone."

"I wasn't going to ask that. I don't want you to. I like having you around Damon. Despite everything, I want you in my life even if what I'm feeling turns out to be nothing more than what I feel for a friend." _Though I highly doubt that's the case._

He nods. "Okay. Good." A few moments of silence falls between them.

"I need to know one thing though." She finally whispers.

"Of course. Anything."

"Tell me the truth Damon. When you broke Jeremy's neck…did you see the ring?" Closing his eyes Damon sucks in a shaky breath. This is what he's been dreading. This question she just asked. Opening his eyes he looks at her. "No." He watches as her eyes leave his to look down at the book in her hands. "Katherine…she really pissed me off and I…I just snapped. I got lucky with the ring. If he wasn't wearing it, I don't know what I would have done…Adele, I'm sorry."

She nods looking back up at him. "Thank you for being honest with me." Grabbing her bag from the back, she swings the door open lightly. "I'll see you later."

~x~

Opening up the trunk of her car Adele grips the handles of the pad locked trunk and yanks it out. It's time for her to take inventory on her weapons and when better to do it, then when everyone is sleeping. Placing the heavy trunk on the ground, she moves to close the trunk but freezes when her eyes fall on a black duffle bag.

_As Jasmine yells at her to get in the car and drive, she shoves a black duffle bag into her hands and Adele recognizes it as her emergency escape duffle Tony had her pack almost a month ago. Ever since she packed it, she's been shoving random crap it. Pictures and stuff like that, in case she ever would have to use it and somehow she got separated from them. It looks like that day is now. _

Grabbing the duffle quickly, she places it on the trunk before slamming the trunk of her car closed and grabbing the heavy trunk on the ground.

Dragging the thing up stairs took a lot more strength then Adele would have liked to give out this late at night, but it needed to be done. Maybe tomorrow she can have Damon put it back for her, anything to not have to do that again.

As of right now Adele throws the duffle onto the bed before sitting down and unzipping it slowly, the first thing she notices is clothes, some T-shirts a couple pairs of jeans, and some underwear. Pulling all those out she places them to the side before looking back in. She sees another T-shirt, pulling it out she holds it up and momentarily forgets how to breathe.

It's a plain white V-neck cotton tee, a men's medium. She had stolen this shirt from his drawer one night, wanting something of his. Bringing it to her Adele bares her face into the shirt. It smells like him, all laundry soap, and a hint of his cologne, though he hadn't worn the shirt yet when she's stolen it, it was just the way there room had smelled. Feeling the tears welling up in her eyes Adele places the shirt to the side.

Grabbing the duffle bag she dumps the rest of its contents onto the bed watching as pictures and small things spill out. Gathering the pictures into a pile she places them directly in front of her staring down at the first one.

It was a picture of her and a petite raven haired girl with glowing green eyes and wide cheeky smile. Jasmine. The two of them we're sitting outside of the patio of a small restaurant. Adele was sipping on a glass of soda, Dr. Pepper most likely not paying much attention to the camera, unlike Jasmine.

The stack of pictures was a mixture of everyone. Of them all, goofing off, happy, no care what so ever. There was pictures in there that didn't even have her in them, like the one of River and Scotty she's holding in her hands. Scotty has his fangs bared, the veins under his eyes completely visible and his hands are up forming claws as River stands next to him, pointing a finger up at him with her right hand while using her left to cover her wide open mouth, her eyes wide as if she's shocked.

The last picture is the picture that has Adele's unshed tears rolling down her flushed cheeks, the picture of her and Tony at the beach. Tony was not fond of beaches, sure he had a daylight ring but that didn't mean he was fond of the sun, not after 466 years of being a vampire, But he had gone, because she wanted to.

He was smiling in the picture, smiling down at her and Adele realizes that she would die to see that smile right now, if only for a second. He had the prettiest smile, with his perfect white teeth and his dimples. He sat leaning against a large rock, his knees bent and spread to allow her to sit in between them with his arm draped over her and wrapping around her midsection as she leans back into him. She's not smiling but she's happy. You can see it in her eyes which are shining as she stares at the ocean a head of them. The sun is glaring down at them, giving the picture a soft glare.

Without a second thought Adele grabs the tape from the drawer of her bedside table and stands, gathering the pictures in her hands. It was time to savor there memory, not time to try and bury it. She was never going to move on if she tried to bury it.

* * *

><p><strong>Previews for the next chapter: <strong>

_**Jenna hosts a BBQ that both Mason and Damon are going be at.**_

_**Adele gets a blast from the past so to speak. **_

_**Sheriff Forbes's worst nightmare comes true. **_


	20. Chapter 20

**Here it is 2 episodes in one chapter. Chapter 20, there's only like three or four more chapters to go before we caught up with the original version. 108 reviews! That's awesome. Let's see if we can make it 115 with this chapter. (: **

**Enjoy. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 20: Memory Lane<strong>

_He's back in 1864, back in the Lockwood Manor and he's dancing. Dancing with Katherine and he's happy, at least he thinks he's happy. "Look who found his dancing shoes." With a short laugh he leans forward to give her a quick kiss but she backs away holding up a finger. "No touching Mr. Salvatore. Those are the rules." She sends him one of her famous smiles; that is both beautiful and devilish. "I thought you didn't believe in rules?" He smiles back as they continue the dance _

_Tearing his eyes away from Katherine, they find his brother standing off to the side, a sore and inpatient look on his face. "My brother is upset you choose me to escort you." He smiles, satisfied that he finally had something over his brother. "Well Damon needs to concede that his younger brother is a better dancer." As they circle around once more Katherine's smile disappears quickly. "What the…" She mutters and Stefan follows her gaze and is so shocked he has to stop dancing, afraid he might just lose his footing. _

_His brother's attention is now turned away from them and focused all on a beautiful blue eyed blonde standing in front of them in a pair of tight black denim jeans, a grey wife beater tank top, a pair of spiked heeled ankle boots and a leather jacket. The blonde turns her head, as Damon bends to place a kiss on her cheek. "Adele…" Stefan's mind recognizes the blonde though back in 1864 he didn't know who or even that there was ever going to be a girl named Adele that he would come to know and care about as if she was a sister he never had. _

_Adele's blue eyes lift to him as if she heard him call her name; a small slow paced grin makes its way onto her pretty features before he watches as she turns back to Damon, letting his brother take her hand to lead her out of the crowd and into another room. So invested in why Adele is in 1864 he makes a move to follow them but Katherine places a hand on his chest. "Stefan don't." He moves it away before chasing after them and as he passes through the doors into another room the scene before him changes. _

_He's back in the present time, in present day clothes, in the grill where he finds Adele leaning against a pool table. Standing on the other side of the pool table is Michael tangled up with a small raven haired girl as they talk to another guy, someone Stefan doesn't know. As he gets closer he can spot the changes in her. She's lost her tan, her complexion now a creamy pale, she reminds him slightly of a porcelain doll. Her eyes are brighter standing out even more so than they use to and as he listens closely he can't hear only a faint heartbeat. Not to mention the new unmistakable dangerous, I can kill you before you have the chance to blink if I very will please vipe that surrounds her, a vipe that has also surrounded Damon for decades. _

_She seems to be looking right at him as she grins once more. "It's not nice to keep a girl waiting." Her voice is soft like usual, but it holds more power than before, completely captivating. He steps forward again, for a second thinking she was talking to him but freezes when Damon steps into his line of vision. _

"_Sorry your majesty." He jokes as he walks over to her. "I thought you could use a drink." He holds up a clear glass of what Stefan can only guess is Bourbon and she takes it from him placing it on the pool table before wrapping her toned arms around his brother's neck. Damon settles himself between her legs, his own arms wrapping around her waist to pull her against him. She leans up to brush her lips against his. "I love you." She whispers a smirk playing on her lips. "Do you love me?" Damon laughs; a clear and bold laugh that Stefan hasn't heard in a long time. "You bet your sweet vampire butt I do." He whispers back before kissing her. _

Stefan is jolted awake sitting up slightly before laying back down when he feels the bed shift next to him. "Hey, you okay?" Elena's voice is tired, as she snuggles closer to him and he sighs running a hand over her head. "Yeah just a dream go back to sleep." He mummers closing his eyes as he does. What a weird dream. Why was he dreaming about Adele and Damon? Besides the fact that Adele was a vampire and that was a truly unnerving sight, the dream had no real relation to him at all.

They open again to look around the room. Elena. Elena is laying her head on his chest. Elena did not sleep over last night and she was most likely still sleeping because of how late her trip ended up being last night. Which means that Elena is not laying her head on his chest and if it's not Elena than who is it? The only other person in the world who looks and sounds just like her.

Springing from the bed Stefan runs to the end of it, looking down at her as Katherine sits up looking back at him with a lazy smile. "You have to attempt, I'm getting better at this." Swinging her legs from the bed Katherine edges herself towards the edge of the bed. "It was so easy to get inside your head. Have you completely forsaken your nature?" Stefan rushes to her hoping to hit her, to do something put she's faster pushing him away with ease. "Are we really going to do this again? We both know I could rip you to shreds and do my nails at the same time."

"It didn't work." Tilting her head Katherine smirks. "What didn't work?"

"Whatever you we're trying to do inside my head, I'm guessing you wanted to show me a vision of Damon and the girl he loves; only you didn't suspect that that girl wasn't Elena. He doesn't care for Elena half as much as he does for Adele, so whatever you we're trying to do, it failed…miserably."

Sighing Katherine rolls her eyes. "I will attempt that I did not think what to show you all the way through. Damon has surprised me yet again, I was so sure that he'd get caught up on Elena, being as she looks just like me and we all know how much Damon loves me."

"Loved. He loved you, obviously not anymore. Now what do you want?"

~x~

She sips from her glass of Dr. Pepper quietly, waiting for Elena to find any more interesting information on Katherine as she looks through the book Damon had given her last night. Adele had considered waiting to give Elena the book, wanting to look through it herself but figured, she's not the doppelganger and Elena is practically ripping her hair out wanting to know more information so she gave her the book this morning after waking up from a 2 hour sleep.

Now here they are, sitting at the grill doing homework that has nothing to do with school at all on a Sunday morning. Adele barley glances at Damon as he takes a seat across from her and next to Elena who looks up and jumps. "What do you want?" Adele asks and Damon smirks. "So this is where you spend all your time when you not throwing yourself at Mason Lockwood." Adele blinks at him. "You did not just say that."

"I did." He nods and she rolls her eyes. "You have to realize Damon that I've known Mason since I was in diapers. He like another uncle."

"You mean your only uncle."

"What?"

Damon's eyes widen in fake shock as he turns to look at Elena. "You mean you haven't told her yet?" He's known all along that Elena wasn't even planning on telling Adele about John and that just…it didn't sit well with him. Adele has mentioned time after time to him how she would kill to know who her birth father was and here Elena knows and just won't tell her.

"Told me what?" Adele asks slowly turning to look at Elena as well who is glaring full force at Damon. "Told me what Elena?" Sighing Elena turns to her sister.

"When Isobel was younger she dated John…she got pregnant…then she ended up going to dad to give birth." Adele stares at Elena for a moment before frowning. "You have got to be kidding me!" She exclaims. "John is our father, you knew and didn't tell me when you knew that I was dying to find out who it was?" Elena nods. "I just didn't want to hurt you anymore than you already we're."

Adele pushes her chair back standing up. "Pissed?" Damon asks and she takes a deep breath. "No. Annoyed." She mutters before walking off while shoving her hands deep into the pockets of her leather jacket.

~x~

Swinging the key to his father's old truck around his finger, Michael bounces up the steps of his apartment building holding tightly to the bull dog puppy in his other arm. Slowing down to a stop at the top of the stairs, his eyes run over the girl standing beside his apartment door.

As if sensing him there, she turns her head to him, her wide eyes taking him in as well. "May I help you?" He finally asks, walking forward to unlock his apartment. "You are Michael Landon right?"

"Yep." He grunts as he swings the door open letting the puppy down on the wooden floors as he does. "I need to ask you a few questions." The girl states as Michael turns back to her, leaning against the doorframe as he does before shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "About?"

"Adele Gilbert."

Adele. Michael hasn't spoken to Adele in a couple weeks due to busy and unforgiving days. Not only is he still somewhat behind in school but he had to work very long hours in the next town over because the pay is better, an apartment does not pay for itself. He also has to worry about his sister who is staying with there aunt and his dad who Michael has no idea where he even is. Hopefully far far away from his sister.

"Come on in." She smiles her thanks as they step into the dimly lit apartment, the only sounds coming from the puppy who is barking at a planet near the hallway. "Willy, leave the damn planet alone. You're hurting its feelings!" The girl can't help but laugh as she follows behind the blonde male who scoops up Willy as he walks by.

~x~

Slipping into the house Adele's eyes widen as she notices Mason Lockwood. "What are you…Oh. The Baroque. I completely forgot." She doesn't see how. She was just talking to Damon about it not even 20 minutes ago. "I figured as much seeing as you weren't here and you we're the one who called and asked me to come, yet you almost fail to show up." She laughs hanging her leather jacket on the coat rack next to the door. "Well I'm here now. That's all that counts. I have to be here everyone has a plus one for this thing, expect for in my case. I have plus two. You of course and is Damon here yet?"

Mason frowns slightly. "Who's Damon?" Adele nods. "Obviously not." She mutters walking pass him and Mason follows quickly behind her. "Who's Damon and how do you know him?" Adele laughs. "Now Mason, don't go all over protective on me here. He's a friend. A friend Jenna doesn't like, so please be nice."

She's listening closely to her Aunt and Elena's conversion as she pulls a bowl from the cabinet. "Thanks for letting me invited Caroline, she needs a distraction." Elena mentions and Jenna nods waving a hand to dismiss the comment. "She's not the plus one I'm worried about."

"Well, I could've just counted Mason as my plus one but we all wanted him here anyways so I had to pick another one. So why not Damon?" Adele shrugs shoving a chip into her mouth. "Come on, be nice." Adele warns and Jenna crosses her arms turning to look at her niece. "I'll be nice when he learns to keep his hands off of you." Smirking Adele brings the bowl to her setting it on the counter. "That could and should be considered kind of a two way street Aunt Jenna." Adele almost laughs as her Aunt's eyes widen and she struggles to stop herself from choking on her own saliva. "You…"

"I found the shot glasses!" Mason calls out rushing into the room and it cuts off Jenna who turns to look at him before pointing at Adele. "This conversion is not over." Adele grins pouring the chips into the bowl before snatching it off the counter. "As far as I'm concerned it's pretty much over. Don't worry, I haven't done anything stupid with Damon…yet." Turning on her heels Adele makes her way from the kitchen laughing loudly as she hears her Aunt calling after her. "Adele Iris Gilbert, you better not be implying what I think you are!"

"What happens happens Aunt Jenna!" Adele calls back laughing louder as she turns the corner towards the stairs, she knew damn well she was not helping Damon's case at all here, this was not going to get Jenna to warm up to him any faster and she had no plans on even getting so far as to kiss Damon again as of right now. She just loved to push her Aunt's buttons. It was always fun.

As she's walking by the front door, she swings it open and Damon freezes; his fist in the air. "How did you…?"

"I saw you walking up through the window. Everyone is in the kitchen, play nice Damon."

"Don't I always?"

"Is that supposed to be funny, because it's not." She sings her eyes following him as he walks passed her and he gives her a look before disappearing into the kitchen and Adele shakes her head turning back to close the door only to come face to face with Caroline.

"Caroline!" She exclaims throwing her free arm around her best friend's neck who laughs. "So how are you feeling?"

"Crappy." Adele frowns up at her and Caroline shrugs. "Food, I want food."

"Not ready yet, but we have chips." Adele shoves the bowl at Caroline who happily takes it.

~x~

Mason is practically jumping in his seat on the couch, stabbing at the X-Box controller in his hands before cursing loudly and throwing it beside him in a fit of frustration as Adele throws her arms in the air, a controller clinched in her right hand. "I win! Again! You two seriously suck, you know that?" Adele giggles as both Damon and Mason glare at her. She had played Damon first, beating him with little difficulty, she than played Mason twice beating him in much less time than it took to beat Damon. "Alright, who wants to stop pouting and try again? You know what they say quitters never prosper."

"The last time you said that to me, I passed out drunk on the hood of my truck. That night taught me to never listen to a 12 year old who couldn't even drink yet." This causes Damon to laugh as Adele scoffs. "Tyler is partly at fault for that as well, FYI! And I'm not 12 anymore, so come on! Somebody play me! I want to kick your asses yet again!"

"I'll play you show you what a real ass kicker looks like." Adele turns around in her seat on the couch to grin up at Alaric. "I accept that challenge, because once I beat you, which I will, I will have beaten all three men in this house at the moment. How sad would that be?"

"You're on but after lunch because the foods ready."

"Good! I'm starving!" Throwing the controller at Mason Adele hops over the back of the couch to run into the Kitchen and Alaric's eyes widen as he watches her. Jenna had mentioned to him once that Adele loves food that the girl could out eat anyone but he didn't realize just how much. He had never seen a girl besides a vampire move that fast without falling in all his life.

~x~

She pulls out the cobbler Damon brought with him as Elena gathers plates from the cabinets. Damon who Adele guesses decided he was done with whatever game it was they we're all yelling over in the other room, comes walking into the kitchen and over to her. "Jenna is getting tipsy." He sings as he places his hands on the counter on each side of her, trapping her between the counter and his body. "Well stop filling her with alcohol." Elena retorts from across the kitchen and Damon rolls his eyes at her. "I want her to like me."

Adele takes to picking at the cobbler in front of her, shoving small pieces into her mouth, keeping her mind far away from Damon pressed against her back. "How's operation Lockwood?" Elena asks and Damon smirks his eyes falling back to Adele, whose blonde hair is pulled up into a high messy pony tail leaving her neck in plain view. Not being able to help himself Damon leans his head forward, towards her ear as he answers Elena. "He's my new BFF." Adele turns her head slightly to try and look up at him but he's closer than she thought, she can't get a look at him and just as Jenna is walking into the room, he places a feather light kiss to her cheek which causes a pinkish tint to color her cheeks as she turns back to look at the cobbler. Jenna eyes the two of them stopping next to them.

"This is fun, isn't this fun?" She asks and Adele nods smiling brightly up at her, because it is fun. This has been a fun day. "It is thank you so much for letting me come." She thinks briefly that Damon should really learn to keep his mouth shut sometimes but then again if he did that he just wouldn't be Damon. "Did I have a choice?" Adele shakes her head, popping another piece of cobbler into her mouth. "Not at all." She mutters.

"I know what you guys think of me…" Jenna huffs. "No you don't. You've never dated you, I have dated many yous." Adele turns her head to look up at Damon behind her waiting to see what his next come back is and he seems to be wondering the same thing. "Well I'm a work in progress." He finally responses causing Adele to sighs before turning around to fully face him. "Forks please." She whispers pushing against his solid chest and though it has no real effect he still moves away. Adele turns back to Jenna. "I'm not dating him so stop worrying." Jenna shrugs. "Not possible."

"Oh…these are fancy." Looking up Adele see's that he's eyeing her grandmother's silver set. "Thanks. My mom's silver set." Jenna answers and Elena looks at Adele as she looks back. Great, Damon has discovered his special weapon for the night.

~x~

Adele looks between Elena and Caroline as there picking up the living room, she has the bowl of chips resting in her lap from before as she picks through it. Jenna, Alaric, Mason and Damon are in the dining room eating cobbler and talking but Adele decided she didn't want any cobbler so she joined the girls, not that she was doing much.

"How are you still eating? Aren't you full yet?" Looking up from her bowl of chips Adele shrugs a shoulder to Caroline. "I feel like eating." Her eyes travel back to glance over her shoulder, to the others in the dining room. "Adele…" She looks up at her sister. "Don't worry. I'm sure Damon isn't stupid enough to do anything right now."

Adele leans forward and keeps her voice low. "He was eyeing that knife Elena. The silver knife, he's planning something and I'm worried about what it is." Elena nods. "I get it but I'm telling you, he's not stupid."

"But he's impulsive." Elena doesn't say anything because it's more than true.

"Would you guys hate me if I ditch the rest of this thing? I mean it's practically over anyways." Adele shakes her head. "Go ahead." She mutters. "Tell Stefan I said hi."

"You want to go to Stefan's?" Caroline asks but Adele turns back to watch the dining room tuning out the rest of whatever it is there saying. She doesn't even realize when both of them are gone.

~x~

"I lost my brother, my nephew lost his father. I'm here for my family." Adele who had been listening from the other room, finally walks in to look between the two as she steps up to them. She's can see a fight coming, a big one at that. "Guys…let's be above this. Please, don't fight." It takes a few seconds but both Damon and Mason nod before shaking hands. "Adele…Can I talk to you for a moment?" Adele nods at Mason. "Just give me a minute."

Once he's out of the Kitchen Adele turns back to Damon who is reaching for the silver knife. "What are you doing?" He doesn't answer her, just shoves the knife into the waist band of his jeans, covering the handle with his shirt before going to walk past her but she reaches out grabbing his arm in both hands. "Damon please, just let it go. Whatever you're planning, don't do it."

"Adele!" Mason calls from the other room. "I'm coming!" Letting go of Damon she backs out of the kitchen slowly. "Please." She mouths before turning around.

She meets Mason by the stairs and moves to stand on the 2nd step looking down at him. "You know what he is." It's not a question but she nods anyways. "Does that mean you know what I am?" She nods again causing him to sigh. "I found out yesterday."

"It doesn't change anything right? I'm not a bad guy just because I'm cursed."

"I know that, don't worry Mason. I don't look at you any differently; I don't think I ever could."

"Okay. I'm just making sure. Now about this you hanging with vamps thing." She laughs slightly looking up. "He can hear you, just so you know. Don't worry. I know what I'm doing." It was a small lie. She wasn't exactly sure what she was doing, not anymore. She was just kind of winging it right now.

"I don't doubt you do just…you and Elena be careful and do me a favor and not mention any of this too Tyler. I'm trying to help him understand but he's making it difficult. He's determined to find out how the curse is triggered."

"And how…is it…triggered?" She whispers.

"He has to kill someone; it doesn't even have to be on purpose." He whispers back and Adele stares at him, unblinking for a good minute and a half. "Okay. I won't say anything. Just let's make sure that doesn't happen."

~x~

"How about some more drinks at the Grill?" Adele laughs stopping beside Alaric as nobody says anything. "Come on! It's like I'm with a bunch of adults."

"I like to think role model." Adele smirks. "Yes, because that is what we call her." She mutters causing Alaric to laugh before Mason turns to her. "How about you?"

"Underage." She points out and he huffs. "Never stopped you before." Adele's jaw falls open as she looks at him as Alaric's laugh is louder this time and Jenna stares at her. "What are you trying to do? Get me in trouble?" He hugs her tightly and she laughs.

"You know…I should be heading out to." Adele's smile falls slightly as she turns to look up at Damon. "Jenna, you are an amazing host."

"And you are a terrible artist." Damon smirks. "Is that the only thing that makes me terrible?"

"Still deciding." Adele watches as Mason slips from the house quickly.

"Alaric, let's…not catch that game next week." Alaric sends him a grin and a nod before Damon turns to her. "And you. I will see you soon." With that he opens his arms and she slowly steps into them, not able to turn it down though she finally knows what he is planning.

When he is out the door Adele watches as Jenna walks away before grabbing her keys and slipping her feet into her flip flops by the door. "Where are you going?" Alaric asks and she looks up at him. "To attempt to stop one of Damon's horrible plans, tell Aunt Jenna I went…to Michaels."

"Michaels?" She nods opening the door. "She'll know who it is."

~x~

Slamming her car door Adele jogs towards Mason bending down to yank out the silver knife Damon just jammed into his gut. "Are you okay?" She whispers and he grunts nodding as he stands up straight.

"You know I think it was werewolves who started that whole sliver thing, probably for moments like this." Adele watches as he turns causing Damon to look back in surprise backing away as Mason comes forward to shut the tailgate of his Bronco. "Dueling noted." She's twisting the knife in her hand watching them both closely.

"I was really looking forward to last call." Mason sighs walking up to Damon who doesn't respond. "Now you made an enemy." They both watch him leave without saying anything and once he's gone Damon turns. "You followed us?"

"I knew you we're planning something. He's family to me Damon. I've lost enough of that already if you haven't noticed!"

"Adele…" Damon says lowly as he walks up to her, his eyes watching her blank expression. "He's dangerous." When she doesn't say anything, he reaches up placing his hands on her shoulders and he watches as her eyes flash dangerously before he grunts in pain. Looking down he sees what the pain is coming from. She just shoved the silver knife hard into his gut.

"You deserve this." She whispers into his ear before kissing his cheek and pulling away, her hand slipping off the handle of the knife and he grips it, yanking it out hard before throwing it to the ground harshly as he watches her slip into her mustang. "Bitch." He mutters as he places a hand to the now healing wound.

~x~

She plops down on the couch staring at the T.V which is switched off. It isn't till she hears someone coming down the stairs that she turns away looking up at Alaric as he walks in. "I thought that was you."

She nods turning back to the off T.V. "It's me."

"So…how did it go?" He asks softly taking a seat next to her.

"Just the way I expected it to. One of Damon's master plans has back fired again but this time I don't think I'm going to be much help in cleaning it up."

"Is that what you do? Clean up after Damon's plans?"

"A lot of the time, but I don't mind. I really don't which I guess is weird. I never get mad about it but he stepped over a line this time. I wanted to strangle him, but it's not like it would have been very effective."

"So what did you do?" She looks over him.

"What makes you think I did anything?"

"You looked guilty as hell sitting there when I walked in. You must have done something." He mentions and she sighs looking away and crossing her arms.

"I stabbed him." She mutters wiggling her toes to give her something else to focus on as Alaric laughs.

"You stabbed him?"

"Yes. With the knife he stabbed Mason with. He deserved it! He killed Jeremy and he stabbed Mason not to mention everything he's done before that. He deserved it."

"Why does it sound like you're trying to convince yourself more than you're trying to convince me?" She turns to him blinking.

She leans back pulling her legs up to curl them under her. "Because I am. I was just pissed. He pisses me off."

"He pisses a lot of people off." Not wanting to talk about Damon anymore Adele points to the X-Box controllers.

"You still owe me a game."

~x~

He pours himself a glass of Bourbon from his alcohol supply, his mind wrapped around Adele and his encounter with Katherine. He had been telling the truth when he told her he didn't do jealous at least not with her because he has someone else to be jealous of and he was also telling the truth when he told her that if he ended up dying a second time from trying to be the hero it would be worth it if it keeps her alive and well.

But he couldn't wrap his mind around her stabbing him. She had without a blink shoved a knife into his gut. He couldn't exactly blame her, he is an asshole he knows that. He killed her brother and stabbed a man she thought of as an uncle, he had done more than that so it wasn't like he didn't see it coming he just didn't expect it to come so soon.

Snapping out of his thoughts Damon freezes, his glass rested at his lips. He listens closely to the movement coming from behind him. Taking a sip from his glass, he sets it down before turning.

Standing by the far book shelve is a short, raven haired, green eyed girl. "You really should lock the doors."

"Who are you?"

"I've been waiting for you to get home. I need to ask you a couple questions about Adele Gilbert." His expression goes quickly from curiosity to threatening and with his vampire speed he starts to her but is stopped half way gripping at his head feeling like it was exploding over and over. After a few seconds it stops and he stands up straight, somewhat breathless. "You're a witch."

"Yes." Slowly as he stares at her, the pieces come together. "Are you…"

"Jasmine?" Damon turns his eyes falling on Adele standing in the door way, her blue eyes wide, her lips parted, her hands clenching her to car keys so hard they've cut into her palm and Damon swallows smelling the blood. "Adele…" Running to her, he takes her hand softly unclenching it and taking the key that's dug its way far into her skin away. "Come on, sit down." He leads her to the couch and sits her down but her eyes never leave the girl. "I'll be right back." He mutters sending one more look to the witch before leaving the room.

"What are you…How…I thought you we're dead." She breaths and Jasmine nods shifting from foot to foot. "I came to check on you." Adele's eyes narrow slightly. "You mean to break the spell you put on me." Damon is back kneeling in front of her with a washcloth, gauze and a couple band aids.

"Yes, but it would seem somebody already did." Before she retorts Damon presses the wet washcloth to her hand and she hisses looking down at him. "It's just water." He mutters and she looks back up to Jasmine. "My sister's best friend Bonnie did, when they figured out what it was. Why…would you put that kind of spill on me?"

"It was just to get you home, once you we're home and safe I was going to come and take it off but I had to run." She doesn't say any more than that and she doesn't have to, Adele knows exactly what she's talking about. She hears Damon curse and looks back down at him. "You're going to need stitches."

~x~

There just dozing off when Jenna's phone blares from the nightstand next to them. Groaning Jenna picks it up looking at the number. "Adele." She mutters pressing the talk button and pressing it to her ear. "Hello?" Alaric wonders briefly if she's calling to tell Jenna she won't be home tonight, after their game where he completely kicked her ass, her told her to go talk to Damon and she did. His thoughts are interrupted by Jenna sitting up in the bed. "What happened?" Slowly he sits up as well, his stomach clenching with worry.

"Okay, I'm on my way…I don't care. I'm coming up there and I'm bringing her home! She shouldn't have been out this late anyways. It's a school night." She hangs up quickly. "That wasn't Adele?"

"Damon. He had to bring her to the hospital. She cut her hand open. What was she doing there so late anyways?"

"I kind of told her to go." Stopping from getting out of the bed Jenna turns back to Alaric. "What?"

"She needed to talk to Damon, I told her to go but be back by mid night and hopefully you wouldn't notice she was gone. How did she cut her hand?" Jenna shrugs pushing hair from her face. "I don't know, I didn't ask and he didn't tell me."

"Okay okay. I'll go and get her, that way Damon gets to live to see another day."

"Fine, make sure she knows, she's going to hear it tomorrow."

"Can you call my aunt?" Adele asks turning to Damon as she waits, with a blood stained towel wrapped around her hand. Damon who is sat on her right side nods. "Let me just finish filling this out." He mutters and she sighs. He had been forced to fill out her paper work due to her cut hand being her right which is the hand she writes with.

Finishing the paper work he gets up, bringing it to the desk before going back over to ask for Adele's phone. He had completely forgotten to grab his when leaving the house, not that he had Jenna's number anyways. "Are you okay?" Turning her head Adele shrugs at Jasmine who is sat to her left. "I guess. I didn't even feel it till he put the washcloth on it."

"I wasn't talking about the cut."

They sit in silence for a few minutes. "I don't know. I'm confused, a little pissed as well. " Jasmine nods. "It's understandable."

"We're they really after you?" Adele whispers and Jasmine nods. "Do they know I got away?"

"I don't see how they don't." Damon appears back beside her and Adele shuts up reaching for her phone. "She's on her way up here."

"Great, just what I need. You guys don't have to wait here with me. I'm perfectly capable of waiting myself."

"I'm not going anywhere." Damon mutters and she nods.

10 minutes later and Alaric is walking towards them quickly. "What happened?" He asks, in a stern like father voice that reminds Adele of her father when she had dislocated her elbow when she was 10. He had come busting into the waiting room, in bloody scrubs having come from a surgery. "What happened?" He demanded to her and she had smiled at him telling him she was fine, that it was just a tree mishap, through her arm was hanging limply at her side. "What does that even mean?" Was the only thing he said as he took her back to fix her up.

Looking up at Alaric she smirks. "Key mishap." Resting a hand on his hip he raises an eyebrow. "What does that mean?" She laughs lightly and he sighs. "You two…" He trails off slightly frowning at Jasmine before shaking his head. "Can go. I'll take it from here."

Damon almost protests but Adele shakes her head and he sighs. "Call me." He demands and she nods again closing her eyes as he kisses her forehead lightly before leaving. "I'll talk to you later." Jasmine whispers before leaving as well and Alaric takes a seat next to her.

"So what happened?" Sighing Adele leans her head on Alaric's shoulder closing her eyes, god she's tired. "It's a long story."

**Kill or Be Killed**

"I'm not even supposed to be doing shit like this. I risk ripping my stitches out." Jasmine smirks over to her friend as they are walking towards the Historical Society set up. "And here I thought it was because of me you didn't want to come."

"No. I am mad at you but I'm not going to shun you, though I don't know why."

"Because you love me and you know you do." Adele rolls her eyes. "The doctor said you can get the stitches taken out sometime this upcoming week. We'll just…observe."

"Kind of like when Will tried to figure out how to play Dance Dance and all we did was sit back and laugh?" Jasmine laughs loudly throwing her head back as she does. "Yes, that is until Tony got up and pushed him off, I still can't believe Tony beat the stupid thing." She exclaims causing Adele to laugh as well. "God I miss them." She whispers after a few seconds and Jasmine nods. "Me too."

~x~

"Are you still staying with Mikey?" Jasmine plays with the cap of her empty water bottle, choosing not to look at Adele as she nods. "That doesn't bother you does it?"

"Nope, we're done Jazzy. Completely done."

"You know I made an observation when I met Michael." Adele raises an eyebrow. "Do you have like a thing for doing blondes?" Adele scoffs. "No. I do non-blondes."

Oh come on. Michael, all blonde and blacked eyes and then Tony, all blonde and doe eyes, it just seems like you have a thing for blondes with dark eyes but then here comes Damon Salvatore. All…dark and handsome."

Jasmine frowns slightly and Adele laughs. "It sounds like you just had a major fail."

"Well I was going for the Tall, Dark and Handsome line but…he's not all that tall."

"No he's not, but he's the perfect height to hug and as for Tony and Michael, I did _not_ do that on purpose, plus I dated a guy named Bruce very briefly and he wasn't blonde." Jasmine smiles and shakes her head. "Damon strikes me as that dark stranger you meet in bar, you really want nothing to do with because he'll probably end up killing you but you can't help it, so you go over to him and you find out he's just like a wounded puppy, lost and looking for a home." Jasmine takes an MNM from the package in Adele's hands.

"It's always been really creepy how you do that."

"Do what?"

"Pin point what someone is all about just by looking at them." Jasmine smirks at Adele before a shadow is casted over them and they both look up. "Mikey!" Adele exclaims smiling. "Hello to you to." He smirks taking a sit on the grass next to her. "I heard what happened to your hand." He reaches over picking up her right hand which is wrapped in an Ace band age that covers her stitches, Jenna had asked her to wear it afraid something would happen if she didn't and when she had refused Jenna stuck Alaric on her and she then agreed just to get them to shut up.

"Yes, it was a tragic accident, I bleed and it hurt…slightly. It was truly horrifying. I mean Mikey I'm traumatized!" She throws herself to the side, lying back in his lap with the back of her hand to her forehead. "Whatever will I do?"

"And once again the winner for best Diva meltdown goes to, Miss. Adele Gilbert." Taking her hand away from her face Adele looks up at him. "Seriously, I barely noticed when it happened. I'll be back to kicking all your asses next week."

"I wouldn't expect you to not kick our asses now if need be." He laughs. "How was Willy's appointment?" Jasmine asks after a couple minutes of silences and Mikey smirks at her. "He's perfectly healthy."

"I told you."

"I thought he sounded weird last night, I just wanted to make sure." He defends causing Jasmine to scoff.

"He's a bull dog, they always sound weird."

"Well now I know that." Jasmine laughs and Adele frowns. "From what I gathered from that tiny conversion is that you got a bull dog and you named it Willy."

"Yes." Michael answers and Adele glares though it's not very affective for she's still lying across his lap. "You couldn't have named it anything else? You so stole that name from me."

"You we're the one telling me to get a dog and name it Willy, so I did."

"Yes, after we break up." Jasmine laughs as Michaels smirks. "I did not plan it that way I swear." She huffs pushing herself up and standing. "I need a water; anyone else want one?" she doesn't wait for their answer as she stocks off towards the Pavilions.

~x~

"Looking for something?" Jumping slightly Adele turns to look up at Damon before huffing and looking back down at the cooler. "Yeah water, but I can't find one." Holding up a finger, Damon disappears into the crowd of people and Adele rolls her eyes bending down to search through the cooler once again.

Not even a minute later, she shirks jumping back up and whirling around. "Your hand is freezing!" She shirks at Damon who had laid his hand on her exposed lower back which really was freezing and slightly wet. Smirking, his blue eyes dancing he holds up a bottle of water to her and she takes it slowly. "Thank you."

"No problem." He says lowly reaching for her hips but she backs away. "No, seriously your hands are cold." Smirking he reaches out quickly catching her around the waist and pulling her to him as she shirks lightly. "Well help me warm them up." He whispers into her ear as she pushes against his chest. "Cold cold cold." She mutters as he slips them up the back of her tank top which causes her to arch into him. "Seriously, your hands are cold! Damon!" She laughs and he stops but holds her close, loving the way she fits against him. "Are you having fun with the witch?" He asks and she sighs reaching up to mess with the collar of his shirt.

"Yes I am. She has a name and it's Jasmine. There's nothing wrong with her Damon. So don't worry."

"See I don't think that's possible, I will worry and you know I'll worry but you insist on telling me not to."

"Because there really is nothing to worry about."

He stares down at her. "She almost killed you."

"She didn't mean to, she was just trying to help but shit happens." She whispers getting up on her tippy toes to be eye to eye with him. "Damon…just please leave her alone. She's the only one left out of 6 of them, the only one."

"I'll leave her alone, but I'm keeping my eye on her." Adele nods leaning her forehead against his for a minute before pulling away. "Thank you."

~x~

She's walking deeper into the woods, wanting to distance herself from the rest of the town, Jasmine following close behind. "They we're totally throwing themselves at him. It was sick."

Adele snorts. "I know and that's not all of them. He has groupies, because you know leave it to Michael to be the only guy in the high school to have a fan group and he's not even a jock. I'm pretty sure I've punched the red head before, they backed off somewhat after that but you know he's single again. Free game."

"They have no self-respect." Jasmine grumbles and Adele smirks back at her. "Your starting to sound like me when we we're dating."

"Okay, enough about them. We need to talk about the…"

"Don't say it. You're going to piss me off."

"Adele, what if they send one here looking for us?" Adele stops turning to Jasmine. "I guess we'll find out when it comes to that. We'll wing it but one thing is for sure…"

"What is that?" Jasmine asks quietly.

"If they send the one who killed Tony…He's dead."

"Don't say that Adele…"

"I am saying it. I know what he looks like, I saw his face, he was not sorry for what he did. He was laughing inside Jasmine. If he shows his face to me, he's a dead man. I promise you and _them_ that."

Adele turns and begins walking again but Jasmine takes a moment before going after her. She couldn't blame Adele for being mad, she was pretty pissed herself.

She's looking at the ground, her green eyes focused on the path she's taking but she smashes into Adele because she had failed to realize that her blonde friend had stopped walking and was staring through the trees at something. "What are you looking at?" But even as she asks, she spots them. The Salvatore's talking to who Adele had pointed out to her earlier is Mason Lockwood.

Adele isn't saying anything, Jasmines not sure if she can make out what their saying, because she's can barely even make them out as it was. They're too far away but whatever was happening did not look good. "What are they doing?" She hears Adele mutter before they watch as Mason Lockwood drops to the ground and a gunshot rings out from even further in the distance. "Damon!" She hears Adele scream out and Jasmine moves fast, moving to in front of her to push her back by the shoulders. "Adele no!" She hears another four shots and Adele is just too strong for her.

She has no choice but to let her go, but she's not about to let her get far. Putting all her focus on Adele, she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, pulling the energy from her surroundings.

She's not even half way there; she's almost halfway there as she's about to run through two trees, she runs into something, causing her to fall back onto her back with a groan. "What the hell?" She snaps looking up. There's nothing there.

"Adele…" Sitting up and looking back Adele narrows her blue eyes at Jasmine. "What the hell Jasmine? What was that?"

"You can't just go running over there! There hunters Adele, they will kill you! That's what hunters do!"

Standing up Adele swipes at the dirt from her legs. "It's Caroline's mom, I know her."

Jasmine shakes her head. "It doesn't matter. She'll shoot you if she thinks you're on their side."

"Well news flash, I am on their side. I can't let her kill them."

"And we won't. We just have to think this through. We can't go in there half-cocked Adele, we'll die. I think we need to find your sister." Adele sighs nodding. "Fine."

~x~

Reaching the point where the Salvatore's we're shot, they hear the crunch of leafs and branches. Looking up Adele sees her sister and Caroline running towards them. "Adele! What happened?" Elena demands.

"Sheriff Forbes shot them, dragged them off somewhere."

"What do you mean she shot them?" Caroline asks, her voice giving off her disbelief.

"She shot them, they we're talking to Mason and then he ducked and she shot them. We need to find them."

"What are you girls doing out here?" All four girls jump and turn staring at Mason Lockwood with the same dumbfounded expression.

"Have you seen Stefan?" Elena is the first to finally speak, coming out of shock first.

"Yeah I've seen him…" His eyes move from Elena to look at Adele. "I've seen Damon to." Adele's eyes widen even more. "Where are they?" Elena asks and Mason shrugs a shoulder. "You don't need me for that; I'll let your friend here sniff them out." He turns on Caroline who takes a step back. "Does your mother know what you are? I'm happy to tell her…"

Caroline goes for him but with a great amount of speed Mason grabs Elena, wrapping his arms around her neck. "Necks snap easy around here." Adele feels sick, she can hardly believe this is her Mason, a man who had looked after her well-being every chance he got when he was in town. Now here he was threatening to snap her sister's neck. It just seemed so unreal.

"Mason…please don't do this." Adele steps forward and his eyes move to her. "This has to happen Adele. Stefan and Damon have to go." Swallowing back tears Adele glances at Jasmine who nods understanding. With a deep breath Jasmine focuses completely on Mason.

Mason lets out a half cry, half scream letting go of Elena to reach for his head and as soon as Elena is beside Adele, Caroline runs forward to grab Mason and slam him into a tree, before throwing a knee up to knee him causing him to drop to the ground where Caroline sends a swift kick to his midsection and Mason flies up and into a tree across from them.

Caroline turns to them. "What was that?" She demands and Adele sighs. "Caroline, Elena meet Jasmine. She's a witch. But before we go into the how did you meet her and what not, we need to find Damon and Stefan, and I think I know where to find them."

~x~

"What is this?" Elena asks as they stop at the steps that would lead them underground. "Old slave quarters from the original Lockwood house. Richard brought me out here one time to show it to me, filled me in on the history of it. It's isolated enough to chain yourself up on a full moon if you're a werewolf or to kill a couple vampires without drawing attention." Elena nods turning to Caroline. "Are they down there?"

Caroline doesn't answer at first but after a minute she places a hand over her mouth. "What?" Adele asks and Caroline looks at her. "My mom. She's killing them."

"Awesome. Elena lets go." Adele demands starting down the stairs with Elena behind her but Caroline reaches out grabbing Elena's arm. "We have to stop her." Elena breaths looking up at Caroline in shock. Why would she stop them? "We can't…Guys she's going to find out about me." Adele looks up from her to Jasmine. "Jazzy, let's go." Jasmine nods rushing down past Caroline and Elena who pulls her arm away from Caroline to follow them.

"Take this." Adele hands a wooden board to Elena who looks down at it. "You're going to need it, to get past the deputy; I would do it but..." She holds up her hand and Elena nods. They count to three before opening the first gate which squeaks loudly.

It takes a few seconds but just as she suspected one of the deputies steps around from the other gate and Elena swings the board hard, knocking the guy off his feet.

Adele steps over the guy and runs forward through the gate but stops as Elizabeth turns the gun on her. Out of reflex Adele's hand goes to the waist band of her shorts but her gun isn't there, why? Because she decided to leave it in the freakin' car.

"Adele…Elena what are you doing here?"

Adele's eyes meet Damon's quickly before looking back up to Elizabeth. "We can't let you do this." She says lowly stepping towards Damon. She stumbles forward when Elena and Jasmine are shoved into her from behind and there forced off to the side by three guns pointed at them.

Adele looks up at Jasmine when the gate slams shut, causing everyone else to look over. Looks like Caroline decided to help them out anyways. "Who else is with you?" Nobody answered they just listened to the wind rush by them before one of the deputies is grabbed and he screams. All you can see is blonde hair as Caroline feeds from the man. The other deputy sends off three shots which Caroline effortlessly blocks with the man she's holding before dropping him and attacking the one who shot the gun, snapping his neck easily.

She disappears into the shadows and only steps out enough for her mom to see her clearly. "Hi Mom."

~x~

Adele's eyes travel over everyone, Elizabeth sitting a stone, Caroline sitting on the steps, Elena bending down next to Stefan and Damon feeding from one of the dead deputies. Turning she shakes her head at Jasmine. "I told you this was nothing to worry about. All they are is a council. A sad excuse for vampire hunters." She whispers so softly that Jasmine has to bend forward. She's only talking so low, so the others don't hear her. "They don't even belong to any other organizations outside of Mystic Falls." Jasmine nods. "I can see that now, but we still have to be careful."

"You need to drink some deputy blood." Adele hears so she turns away from Jasmine to look back over to everyone. "No…I'll be fine, it's just going to take a little bit longer." Stefan hisses in pain as Damon touches one of the wounds on his chest. "Damon's right you know…if there was ever a time to break your diet." Caroline mentions causing Elena to glare. "He said he didn't want it…Okay?"

Damon stumbles half off balance to his feet. "This is the most unfortunate situation ever. Two deputies dead…" Damon turns to look at Liz who looks terrified. "And you…what am I going to do with you?"

"You won't tell anyone will you?" Caroline speaks up and everyone turns to look at her. Elizabeth doesn't say anything.

"Mom…" Caroline glances at them as if asking for help but no one is sure exactly what to say. "Mom…please…look I know we don't get along and you hate me but…I'm your daughter and you'll do this for me right?" Everyone knows it's not true; Elizabeth has never hated Caroline she was just always invested in her work. "Mom please…he will kill you." Damon nods at her as she looks up at him. "Then kill me…" Caroline's eyes widen in horror. "No!"

"I can't take this." She cries

"But you were going to drag it out so painfully." Damon practically growls as he bends down to be eye to eye with the woman, suddenly he grabs her, dragging her to her feet. Caroline stands up quickly yelling out no over and over just as everyone else yells at once.

"Damon don't!" Stefan yells.

"Damon Please!" Elena pleads.

"Damon!" Adele snaps and Jasmine stays silent.

"Don't worry guys…no one is killing anyone." He turns his head sending them all looks from over his shoulder before looking back down to Elizabeth. "You're my friend…" Turning to finally survey the damage he sighs. "We have to clean this up."

~x~

Adele hugs her tightly for a minute before pulling back to look at her. "I'm going to have to leave town soon. I can't stay in one place for too long."

"But you can't keep running for the rest of your life. Don't do anything right now Jazzy, don't make any plans, just take a deep breath and relax. We'll figure it all out soon." She sighs running a hand through the ends of her raven hair. "We can't wait to long."

"And we won't. Just get some rest. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Adele watches Jasmine walk away, up the steps to the 2nd floor of the apartment building. Looking to the ground Adele kicks the rock beside her foot hard. "Damn it." She mutters in frustration.

~x~

Swinging her keys around her finger, she bounces down the steps towards the cellar, wanting to check and see how Elizabeth is before heading home. Slowing down she stares over at Stefan, who is holding a blood bag in his hand staring at it with a confused expression. "What are you doing?" She asks softly causing him to look up at her. He had heard someone coming down the steps but he couldn't tell who it was.

"Katherine…she built up a tolerance to Vervain by taking little amounts of it every day. I'm thinking maybe I could do that with blood, maybe I can build up a tolerance to it, be able to consume it without turning into…him. I need to be stronger; I need to be able to protect everyone if something like this was to happen again. Elena doesn't think it's a good idea. I'm not sure it is either. I don't know what to do."

Walking to him, she slowly takes the blood bag from his hand. "You do need to get stronger and building a tolerance for blood will probably be your only way to do that but just take some time to think it about Stefan, because it's a big decision, one that you can't make on impulse. Give Elena a chance to come around because I'm sure she will but you know, on the off chance that she doesn't and you still want to go on with this idea, I'll be there for you."

He nods smiling despite himself and pulls her into a hug which she gladly returns. "When did you get so soft?" Laughing she pulls away. "Don't get used to it grandpa."

Before she can disappear around the corner he calls her name and she turns back. "Thank you."

"No problem."

~x~

Hanging out with Jasmine brought back a whole different set of feelings, feeling she had pushed down. They made her want to cry, she knew if she went home, she probably would and she didn't want to do that. She had been crying too much lately and she was done.

Knocking on his door, she waits for him to answer and when he does, he's wearing only his jeans and his boots having stripped off his shirt due to the blood on it.

"Shouldn't you be heading home?" She smirks crossing her arms.

"Without saying goodbye?"

"Not ready to go yet?" Her smirk falls, along with her arms. "No." She mutters and he smiles letting her into the room.

Like Elena the boarding house over time had become her second home and while Elena shared a room with Stefan, Adele shared a room with Damon even though there we're at least four other rooms threw out the house. She had her own personal section in his closet, she had her own drawer in his dresser and he had even bought the kind of shower products she uses and not to mention she could maneuver her way around the room with her eyes closed.

It was the place she went when she didn't want to be home at night, when she didn't want to be alone, or Elena or Jeremy or both had done something to piss her off and she knew if she didn't get out now she would most likely murder them and it's not like Damon has ever turned her away. Every time she showed up, she had barely any time to make it to the door before he was there to open it and was pushing her inside and racing her up to the room. It's not like she could ever win, he cheats.

After taking a shower and changing into a pair of sleeping shorts and one of Damon's black t-shirts, she crawls into the bed beside Damon who is staring up at his ceiling with his arms behind his head.

She curls up on her side, facing away from Damon and it only takes a moment before she feels the bed shift and he's pulling her back into his chest with his arms securely around her mid-section.

"Something's wrong." He mummers into her hair and she sighs, this is what she gets for letting him get so close now he knows whenever something is bothering him.

"Is it about Jasmine?"

"Not exactly. Seeing her without the rest of them…I guess it just kind of made the whole thing real. Like they really aren't coming back." He doesn't say anything only pulls her closer.

"Can you promise me something Damon?" She whispers and he nods against her neck. "Promise me you won't die. Promise me you won't leave me." Her voice is so strained, so sad and so venerable that it makes him want to give her anything she wants, even if what she's asking for is way out of his control.

"I promise."

* * *

><p><strong>So in this chapter I wanted to build up the relationship between Alaric and Adele and I think I did pretty good. (: Also, Jasmine and Adele's conversions in this chapter revolves mostly around <strong>_**them**_** and if you haven't guessed who they are, it will be revealed in later chapters, so hang tight. **

**I hope you all enjoyed. **

* * *

><p><em><strong>Previews for the next Chapter: <strong>_

**Damon comes up with a plan to get the Moon stone from Mason. **

**Bonnie and Adele are focused to work together. **


	21. Chapter 21

**Wee! Chapter 21 done! Yay! So I'm thinking we can reach 120 reviews before I post the next chapter, or you know more. ;p **

**I hope you enjoy and just in case I can't update before next Tuesday, I just want to say Happy Holidays! (: **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 21: Plan B <strong>

She feels hot, hot but comfortable as her eyes flutter open slowly and when they finally focus she closes them again because man is it bright. Maybe that's why it's so hot. Whatever, she's comfy and safe and she doesn't want to move. That's all she knows at the moment, well that and the real reason she's feels so hot and safe. Damon is still sleeping curled into her back with his arms tightly wrapped around her mid-section keeping her from moving away from him and with a leg swing over hers, she's completely trapped.

After a few minutes of lying there not wanting to move she hears a groan from behind her and smirks. "You left the curtains open." She mutters and the next groan is louder. "It's too bright." He whispers as he buries his nose into her hair, inhaling her scent. "What time is it?" She asks opening her eyes again to look at his bedside clock. "10:23 holy crap, I've got to go."

"Hm…no. Your warm." She laughs turning around in his arms to bury herself in his chest. "I volunteered to help set up that Masquerade thing at the Lockwoods." She says, her voice muffled by his shirt. "Mason is going to be there." He says more than asks and Adele sighs. "Yes, I would assume." He makes a sound, an unhappy and annoyed sound. "I don't want you near him, he's dangerous and when he sees we're and alive he'll know you had something to do with it. He'll know where you stand."

"I don't stand anywhere Damon."

He rolls over pinning her underneath him catching her by surprise as she blinks up at him. He moves, so he can brush his lips against her neck as he speaks. "So if Mason was 2 seconds away from killing me…you wouldn't do anything?"

"I didn't say that, you know that's not true." Her voice is a breathless whisper as the brushes of his lips turn into small kisses. "Of course I know that. You are after all in my bed, not his." She doesn't say anything as his lips trail over her jaw to rest above her lips. "That means that you do stand somewhere."

~x~

Adele takes the steps up to Michael's apartment two at a time. After untangling herself from Damon as quickly as possible, knowing if she didn't she wouldn't be able to pull herself from his bed she had decided to see what Jasmine and Michael we're up to, though she figured Michael was at work so maybe she could drag Jasmine with her to the Lockwood's.

As she reaches the door she swipes the key from the top of the door frame down and lets herself in, something she's done more times than she can count.

As she closes the door behind her, she hears the sound of nails clicking against the wooden floors and the sound of bare feet running after it. Adele stops when she spots the white bull dog skidding around the corner; at least it looks like it used to be white. "Willy! Come back here! You need a bath! Your Daddy is going to kill me if he sees you!"

The puppy runs over to her, wedging his way between her legs to look up at Jasmine who comes running around the corner after him. Willy gives off a small half bark half snort as Jasmine stops staring at Adele. "Whatcha doin'?" Adele asks a grin lacing her lips. Jasmine huffs throwing up her arms in a show of frustration. "He knocked my juice off the table and it spilled all over him and now he's purple! He needs a bath before Michael gets home!" Adele laughs causing Jasmine to glare. "Grab the dog!" She snaps and Adele bends down scooping the sticky dog into her arms.

~x~

"This is the 7th time we've washed him! Face it Jazzy, you stained him!"

"I didn't do it! He did it. He knocked into the table with his fat butt!"

They both look up at the sound of the front door opening. "He's home!" Jasmine yells grabbing the dog out of the tub and plucking the drain plug from the drain. Adele grabs the towel wrapping it around the puppy before they bolt from the bathroom. "What do we do?" Jasmine whispers harshly and Adele quickly places the dog into the bedroom before closing the door just as quickly. "Jasmine?" They hear him call from the living room and they both make their way into the room smiling at him.

He's not at all surprised to see Adele. "I thought I'd find you here. What are girls doing?" He asks eyeing them both. There smiles we're just a little too big for comfort. "Nothing…" Jasmine's smile widens and he looks around. Almost everything seemed to be in place...Almost. "Where's Willy?"

"…He's taking a nap…in your bedroom. So I'm going to kidnap Jasmine now, we volunteered to help set up the Masquerade party yesterday." Adele mentions and Jasmine looks at her. "We did?" Adele sends her a glare and Jasmines eyes widen as she looks back over to Michael. "We did." She nods.

Grabbing her hand Adele runs for the door as Michael makes a b-line for his bedroom. Just as they get the door open they hear his bedroom door swinging open and Willy give off an unhappy bark. "Why is he purple?" Michael's deep voice booms from the back of the apartment and both girls shirk closing the door as fast as they can behind them.

~x~

"Losing Caroline was bad enough; I didn't think I'd lose you to." Adele wedges her way in between Elena and Bonnie, grabbing as many candles from the box on the table as she can hold. "You didn't lose Caroline. Caroline is still Caroline, vampire or not. You are just too stuck up to see that." Adele doesn't wait to see if she has anything to say, she just walks away, back over to Jasmine who was watching the whole thing. "Who was that?"

"Bonnie, the vampire hating witch AKA my sisters best friend. I don't get it personally, not every vampire in the world is bad. Plus she has some internal hate for Damon, if she had it her way, he'd be dead right now but she doesn't get it her way, she gets it my way and my way is Damon alive."

"All witches have their own views on Vampires." Adele rolls her eyes. "I don't hate them obviously but most witches do. I believe you just have to meet the right ones."

"I don't think I've ever asked you…where are you from?" Jasmine shrugs. "A small town in Utah, both my parents we're witches, my mom and dad we're all about teaching me about witch craft. I started practicing at a young age, but my mom was more about dark magic then my dad and he was not happy about it, so he left. My mom tried to force me into dark magic and I didn't want to do it, so when I turned 15 I left, I found my way to River and together we found Tony and the rest of them. I was with them ever since."

~x~

"I need to talk to you, both of you actually." Adele turns but Damon is already walking away with Stefan and Bonnie trailing behind him. Adele glances at Jasmine but she shrugs. Adele sighs as they both follow.

Damon leads them all off to the side where Bonnie finally stops walking to say it was as far as she would go and to tell her what this is about. "Yes, what is this about?" Adele asks and Damon turns to her.

"Do remember our little trip to duke? When Vanessa told us about the curse of the sun and the moon?" Adele nods slowly. "Well Mason came into town looking for a _Moon_ Stone. This moon stone could be the key to unlocking the werewolf part of the curse there for allowing them to shift whenever they want, which gives them even more leverage to be able to kill us. Not only that but Bonnie here saw a vision of Mason and Katherine kissing when she touched Mason earlier. We need to get that moon stone from Mason before he gives it to Katherine if that is his plan which I'm positive it is."

"Wait a second…" Everyone turns to Stefan. "Who is this?" He asks pointing to Jasmine, Damon smirks at him.

"This is Jasmine. She's a witch. She's with Adele. Hopefully we won't need her." Damon turns to Bonnie. "We need a favor." Bonnie snorts. "Like that's going to happen." This causes Damon to roll his eyes. "So predictable, this is why I brought him."

"Bonnie, I know how you feel about helping us out, but you're the one who linked Mason with Katherine. We finally have an opportunity to get the upper hand on both of them. So just hear us out." Stefan explains all the while Adele and Jasmine watch the exchange between the three quietly.

"I'm listening." Bonnie finally says just as Stefan's phone goes off. "I have to fill Elena in on what's going on. Can you play nice? Please?" The question is directed at Damon who nods as Stefan walks away from them.

"All you have to do is touch Mason Lockwood again. See if he gave Katherine the moon stone." Bonnie smirks. "My visions don't work like that; I don't get to ask questions." Jasmine's eyebrows rise but she stays silent. "How inconvenient." Damon all but snaps before turning to Jasmine. "This is why I have you here. Can you do it?"

"If I can't do it what makes you think she can?" Bonnie asks before Jasmine can reply and Damon glares. "Maybe she's better than you."

"Guys…" Jasmine smiles up at them as they turn back to her. "What Bonnie saw wasn't exactly a vision. We're witches we're not visionaries. What she saw was more likely a memory, one that involved him and Katherine."

"What does that mean?" Damon asks and Jasmine sighs.

"It's possible for a witch to pull images from someone's memory, if you're looking to see if Mason has given the stone to Katherine, or your just trying to find out where he put it, it could be possible to pull those images, if Bonnie was able to see Mason and Katherine together she should be able to the pull the information you want."

This causes Damon to smirk down at her before turning to Bonnie. "And that little thing you both can do, where it feels like my brain is on fire. What is that?" That smug look Adele always wants to slap off of Bonnies face appears as she looks up at Damon. "An aneurysm, your blood vessels go pop, but you heal quickly, so I do it over and over again." He turns away from Bonnie back to Jasmine; he likes Adele's witch much better than Elena's that's for sure.

"Is it vampire specific?" She shakes her head. "If you're wondering if it will work on Mason the answer is yes." Adele speaks up causing Damon to turn to her. "She had to do it to him yesterday. Don't ask." She mutters when he raises an eyebrow.

"I'm not going to help you hurt him." Bonnie says and while this would usually cause Adele to roll her eyes in annoyance, she only looks between them because while deep down she knows Mason isn't the same person he used to be, she still didn't want see him get hurt.

"Mason Lockwood is a werewolf, Katherine is evil. There the bad guys. Really? You're going to play morality police with me right now. Let me put it to you another way, there a threat to Elena and you _witch_ are going to get over yourself and help us."

Damon is very aware that he could just ask Jasmine to do it, ask her to go through with his insane plan and dismiss Bonnie and they can go back to ignoring each other like there so good at but he can't bring himself to do that. All he really wanted her here for in the first place was because he had a feeling Bonnie was going to say she couldn't do what he was asking and he also had a feeling when he first found out Jasmine was a witch that she was more powerful than she looked, she would know more about what he was asking of Bonnie and she did. Now he was letting her off free.

He doesn't want to involve the young witch because his plans usually turned bloody and this girl means a lot to Adele. He wasn't even planning on involving Adele.

"He meant that as a question. With a please on the end." Damon's eyes never leave Bonnie as Stefan shows up back beside him. "Absolutely." He mutters. Bonnie looks between them. "I can't pull images from someone's head. I don't know how to do that."

"I do." Jasmine speaks up before looking at Bonnie. "I can show you." Damon almost curses. Now there was no way to keep the two from his plans.

~x~

"You know, my plans usually go haywire. It's not the best idea to involve yourself with them." Damon speaks not taking his blue eyes away from Adele who is with Bonnie waiting for Mason Lockwood to make an appearance. Their plan has officially been set in motion and he was waiting patiently off on the sidelines with the raven haired teenager and his younger brother, who was very invested in his phone at the moment, most likely texting Elena. "Oh, believe me, I've heard all about your plans. Correct me if I'm wrong but they usually end in someone getting hurt?" Damon shrugs a shoulder. "Or dead." He adds.

"Is this about not wanting Adele in on this?" He doesn't say anything. "She'd find out anyways. She has a way of doing that and she would involve herself if not for a personal benefit, to make sure _you_ aren't the one who ends up dead." It didn't take an expert to figure out how much Adele cares for the vampire standing next to her, Jasmine had noticed it that night in the boarding house when Adele cut open her still healing hand.

There silent for a few moments, before Damon steals a quick glance at Jasmine. "So…you two we're living together over the summer?" Jasmine nods. "I found her sad and lonely in North Carolina, she didn't know where she was going so I brought to Florida with me, she became part of our little family overnight. She's not hard to love." Damon snorts a laugh. "You don't have to tell me that." He mutters his attention back on the blonde who is inspecting her nails.

Jasmine as if knowing what he's thinking turns to him. "He loved her a lot, enough to sacrifice his own life for her." She didn't need to tell him how much someone could love the blonde. He knew the feeling, but it was just the mystery of who has also known the feeling that bothers him.

"Who? Who loved her? That's what I want to know." There both oblivious to Stefan watching them.

Jasmine sighs. "It doesn't really matter anymore, does it?"

"To her, it does." He looks over at her and she shakes her head. It's not her place to tell him.

"His name was Tony. Tony Braxton. That's all I can say."

"How much did she love him?" He didn't want to ask but he needed to, he needed to know. He just couldn't bring himself to ask Adele herself. Jasmine stares at him for a moment, weighing her answer. "Enough to throw away everything." Damon knew that that meant basically in other words she was planning on changing, on being with this guy forever. He swallows looking back over to the blonde who's now standing getting ready to follow through with their plan. That answer is what he was afraid of. He doubts she could ever love him like that.

~x~

Adele's eyes move to Damon once again. She's waiting impatiently for Mason to appear, so Bonnie and her can make it look like their struggling with a heavy wooden table when in reality the table wasn't _that_ heavy. This has to be the 4th time she's looked over there, just to see him in deep conversion with Jasmine. The conversion didn't look like a pleasant one from the look twisted into Damon's handsome features, but it didn't look like either of them we're an any danger being with each other, not that she expected them to be. She trusts them. That and she trust Stefan to make sure nothing happens.

Bonnie's dark eyes watch as the blonde her best friend calls a sister stares over to the Salvatore brothers and that other witch but she knows that she's mostly focused on Damon who Bonnie knows for a fact has been watching the blonde like an overprotective rapid dog, ready to pounce and kill anything that dares touch her and she wouldn't be surprised if that's exactly what happened if someone tried to hurt her, Bonnie can bet he wouldn't think twice about killing the person even if that person was her.

Bonnie has never been fond of Adele. When she met the girl way back in 1st grade, Adele had called her a freak and stole her favorite sparkly pink crayon to give to Caroline who she was inseparable with, Bonnie knew from that day forth her and Adele we're meant to be nothing more than mutual enemies and while back than Bonnie had been bigger than her, because Adele was a small child, a really small child Bonnie never fraught the girl back when she tried to start stuff because Adele, Bonnie swears was bred to be an evil child and she knew how to get want she wanted.

Thankfully as Adele grew older, she grew out of that stage. She calmed down and waited for trouble to find her instead of being the one to start it, not that it took long for trouble to ever find its way to the older Gilbert twin. By the time 7th grade rolled around Adele was the most laid back girl in school, she _never _got into trouble on purpose. Bonnie can't help but roll her eyes at the thought.

It wasn't till Adele met Michael, who had been Bonnie's friend first, that she grew back into her wild tactics, not necessarily starting the trouble but influencing it yes, because Michael is a very smooth talker and had a thing for trouble as well and he could talk them both out of any sticky situation the couple found themselves in. Bonnie was convinced that for the first year of their relationship Adele was just using him, but it became clear very fast when Adele punched one of her close friends at the time square in the jaw because the girl decided she wanted Michael as well that Adele was not just using him.

The two dated for a good 3 and a half years before Adele broke it off, about a month or less before her parents died and then she disappeared and as bad as it sounds Bonnie wasn't at all disappointed.

But as luck would have it she would come back, meaner than ever and Bonnie would be back to wanting to punch the girl at least twice a day but she always thought better of the idea because Adele had grown into herself quickly, she wasn't weak and she knew how to throw a punch much better than Bonnie did due to Adele having more experience in fighting than she did. It was safe to say Adele Gilbert, her best friend's twin sister scared the living hell right out of her and that would most likely never change.

Which would than bring her to Damon Salvatore the forever 24 year old vampire. A guy who she hasn't known long and a guy she wishes she'd never met. He's another one who has a thing about getting himself into trouble. He seeks it out and thrives off the mess he can create out of everyone else's life. It's like he lives to destroy everything he touches though he tries to cover it up by "doing good" by the town. He might have everyone else convinced he's a good guy, but Bonnie knows better.

While Bonnie can act like she's not scared of the guy, in all truth he terrifies her. She knows that at any moment, when she's not paying enough attention to stop him he can attack and kill her if he very well pleases just like she knows if Adele very will pleases, even though she's human she can do the same and whenever Bonnie is around the two she can just imagine them coiled like snakes ready to strike out at her. The two in Bonnie's mind are a match made in hell.

~x~

Jasmine watches as Mason Lockwood finally after what seemed like hours of waiting comes walking out the Lockwood house. Adele who is standing at the bottom of the truck is directing Bonnie on where to go with the table. Glancing over Jasmine takes in Damon's tense form; he wasn't this tense a moment ago.

The second his icy eyes caught sight of Mason, he straightened up. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't in the least bit worried about Mason being around Adele. The guy showed his true colors yesterday and Adele was part of the reason his master plan didn't fall through, he had to know that by now and Damon can see that he might as his eyes rank over the blonde who is trying to help Bonnie get the table from the truck. "How did you girls get stuck doing that all by yourselves?" He can hear him asks as he moves closer to them.

"All the guys bailed." Adele answers shortly and Mason's eyes fall back on her with what seemed like caution. Oh yeah. He knows. "Something about draft picks. I don't know I don't speak that language." Bonnie says trying to break the high tension in the air. Damon's eyes stay locked on them.

"Well let me give you a hand." Adele takes a step back as Mason reaches up to bring the table down easily. After a moment he gives off a half scream half groan reaching up to grab at his head. Damon jumps forward, practically jogging over to them and when he reaches them he hears Bonnie mutter a quick sorry before he brings his knee up slamming it into Mason's jaw, knocking the guy out hopefully long enough to carry out their plan.

Adele bends down digging through his pockets till she finds the keys to his bronco. She shakes them when she finds them, letting them jingle softly to let Damon and Stefan know she's found them before jogging over to the driver side of the truck. Opening the door she climbs into the large truck, waiting for the rest of them.

Once they have Mason in the back with Bonnie and Damon and Jasmine in the front, Adele peels out of the driveway quickly and smoothly. Jasmine grabs the dashboard as Adele pushes on the gas, speeding down the road and in the direction of the boarding house. "Geez, Adele. Could you drive any faster?" Bonnie speaks up her voice dripping with sarcasm and Adele glances at her through the review mirror. "Wanna find out?" She snaps back and Bonnie glares.

"Just be glad she can drive this big ass thing." Jasmine mutters and Adele sends her a smirk.

"Of course I can drive it, who do you think was brave enough to teach me how to drive when I was 12?"

~x~

Swiftly she parks the Bronco in front of the boarding house and turns the engine off as Damon leaves the truck to drag Mason out. "Kitten grab the bag, you girls follow me." He orders and Adele rolls her eyes, sliding from the truck as well. As they disappear from her sight, Adele pops open the tailgate.

As she's pulling the heavy bag towards her, she feels her phone vibrating in her pocket. Thinking that maybe it's Stefan checking in, she stops taking it out. It's a blocked number.

Frowning Adele answers. "Hello?" There's nothing but a few seconds of silence and then the dial tone. Adele's frown deepens, probably just a wrong number. Grabbing the bag, she slings it over her shoulder before slamming the tailgate to the truck closed and making her way into the house.

She throws the bag down in one of the chairs in the room. "The bag you requested." She mutters turning to watch Damon and Bonnie spread out a sheet under the chair Mason is now slumped into. "He's not going to be out much longer." Bonnie speaks up standing in between Mason's legs. "I'm surprised he's been out this long." Jasmine says as she stands behind him. Damon moves for the bag which Adele is still standing next to.

Unzipping the bag, Damon's eyes widen as he turns to look up at her. "Looks like someone is used to being chained up." He pulls the pile of chains from the bag. "Help me out here Kitten." Adele sighs taking half of the chains and following him over. While he takes one side Adele takes the other, helping him to chain his ankles. "What are you doing?" Damon asks the witches as Jasmine directs Bonnie to place her hands on Mason's head. "You're looking for a Moon stone and I'm going to teach Bonnie how to find it."

"Oh good. Find out if he gave it to Katherine, find out where she is and Find out what they're going to do with it once they get it." He directs towards Bonnie who glances up at Jasmine. "If you know how to do this, why don't you just do it."

"Because this is a simple and very useful trick all witches should know how to do. The fact that you don't and you're a Bennett witch is sad and you need to learn this. Now don't focus on me. Focus on him, focus completely on him and what you want to know. Imagine his memories are like a filing cabinet and you're looking for a specific file. Ask the question you want to know."

Adele stands watching Bonnie and Jasmine and Jasmine isn't in the least bit surprised how fast Bonnie catches on, she is after all a Bennett and they are known to be very powerful. "Somewhere small, dark. There's water." Damon stands.

"Like a sewer?" He asks slowly.

"A well, no that can't be right." After a moment she nods. "Yeah, it's a well." Adele racks her brain. There's no wells in Mystic Falls, expect for one on the edge of the old Lockwood property. Adele glances up at Damon her eyes flashing and he narrows his eyes at her reading it from her expression that she knows exactly what Bonnie is talking about. Jasmine gazes between them frowning. The two looks like they we're having a conversion only they could hear, it's kind of creepy.

Adele's thoughts are interrupted as she gasps trying to jerk back but Mason's fingers are wrapped so tightly around her wrist, keeping her in place that she's sure to have bruises. Damon springs forward quickly releasing her wrist and she backs up. "Alright lets go." She breaths out rushing towards the door. "I'll stay here." Jasmine calls after her but Adele doesn't answer, she's already out of the room by the time Bonnie finally moves to go after her.

"Hey." Adele stops short spinning around to look at Caroline.

"Hey." She breaths as Bonnie comes up between them looking at Caroline with wide eyes. "How's your mom?" Bonnie asks her voice unsteady. Caroline smiles softly. "I'm going to take her home tonight."

Bonnie moves to step towards her but thinks better of it and moves back. "Caroline, I…" She trails off looking Caroline over before shaking her head. "Never mind." She turns to Adele. "We have to go."

"Did you find that moon stone thingy?" Adele nods pulling out her phone to send a quick text to Stefan, informing him on the where a bouts of the stone. "It's in a well, that well on the edge of the old Lockwood property. You know the one I pushed Tyler down when we we're kids just because I thought it would be funny, which it was." Caroline laughs. "I remember that." She mutters softly and Bonnie looks back at her. Yeah, she was an evil child.

"We really have to go." Adele mutters after a moment of silence. "I'll go with you." Caroline offers looking at Bonnie and Adele knows this isn't her place to say anything. Whatever was going on between Bonnie and Caroline was between Bonnie and Caroline.

"No." Bonnie's response seems just a little too quick. "That's okay." Adele can't help but sigh. She just didn't understand what Bonnie's problem was. Bonnie looking at the deep frown that comes across Caroline's face as her eyes drop to the ground suddenly feels guilty. This is Caroline; they've been friends for years. "Yeah okay." She finally says and Caroline perks up.

"Alright let's go!" Adele finally snaps rushing them both from the house and back to the truck.

~x~

"We we're 11 and we we're playing down by the well, it was back when they didn't keep a like door thing on the well." Caroline explains looking back to Bonnie who had asked about the Tyler incident Adele was speaking about before. "I thought he just fell in. That's what he said when they got him out."

"He lied." Adele says as she takes a sharp left turn that would lead her closer to the old Lockwood property. "He was leaning over the well trying to look down into it so I thought "Hey, I wonder how funny it would be if I pushed him?" so I pushed him and he fell. It was funny as hell and I didn't get in trouble, so bonus. He spent two hours down there until the fire department got him out."

"And he just lied for you? Told everyone he fell?" Adele nods. "He got her back." Caroline mentions a smirk playing on her lips as Adele rolls her eyes. "Let's not go there." She would rather not relive the day she spent locked in an unused closet in the Lockwood Manor. It wasn't one of her fondest memories.

"Enough of this trip down memory lane, we're here." She turns the key and the engine cuts off.

~x~

Her heels dig into the dirt making it difficult for her to rush through the many trees. It was days like this when she dreaded the fact that it felt like her town was built in the middle of the damn woods. Every which way you turned there are trees.

Finally getting fed up with it, she stops pulling the heels from her feet before continuing on, catching up to Bonnie and Caroline quickly. Caroline stops short causing Bonnie and Adele to stop as well. "What?" Adele asks looking up Caroline. "Something's wrong." She mutters before taking off and Adele groans. "Great." Her and Bonnie take off after her, weaving their way through trees. "Do you know where you're going?" Bonnie breaths out a couple feet behind Adele. "Yes." Adele all but snaps but it doesn't faze Bonnie, at least not anymore.

They reach the well, just to find Caroline hooking Elena up to a chain. "What are you doing?" Adele snaps once more, pulling Elena back to the edge of the well. "Stefan's down there, the well is full of vervain." She explains and Bonnie frowns. "Okay…just be careful."

"Wait…" Elena looks at Bonnie. "We can't wait!"

"Maybe Adele should go down; we all know she's stronger than you and…" Bonnie trails off as Adele scoffs.

"Well that's no secret but this is good for Elena. Be careful." She warns again and Elena nods. "Okay lower me down." Caroline nods, and while Bonnie and Adele help Elena into the well Caroline starts to lower her down.

A little under half way down Caroline almost loses hold of the chain, causing the chain to slip through her hands slightly and Elena lets out a soft scream as Adele and Caroline grip the chain hard pulling it tight. "Holy shit." Adele breaths as Caroline apologizes. "It's okay. Keep going." With Adele's help this time Caroline begins to lower her once more.

When they hear the splashing of water, they know Elena's at the bottom so they let go of the chain to look over the edge. "What's going on down there?" Caroline calls and Adele grabs the chain after seeing it move. "Pull him up!" Elena calls back and Caroline grabs the chain as well, yanking hard.

As Stefan nears the top of the well Adele lets go of the chain to help Bonnie pull him up and over. They move him off to the side. "Okay Elena, I'm ready for you." Adele jumps over Stefan to get back to the well. "No! Find the moon stone!" She yells down to Elena and Caroline looks at her. "Adele…"

"We did not just go through all of that to come out with nothing. The moon stone is obviously down there why else would the water be laced with vervain." Caroline sighs looking back down. She's right they need to find the stone.

"Hurry up!" Adele yells down but Elena doesn't yell back. They can hear her splashing around and they wait for what seems like hours. "Hold on!" Elena finally yells. "I think I found it!" Adele sighs in relief that is until Elena screams. "Elena!" She yells looking down into the well. "What's going on?" Caroline yells after her.

Elena's screaming stops. "I got it! Come on! Bring me up!" Caroline moves to the chain and yanks as Bonnie and Adele wait to help her out. When she finally comes up she shoves the box at Bonnie who hands it to Adele before helping Elena over the edge. Adele barely pays attention to Elena as she drops down besides Stefan and cuts open her hand with a rock to give him much needed blood. Her eyes are focused on the box as she opens it up, revealing a smooth oval shaped misty white stone.

~x~

Damon finishes washing his hands, having had to wash Mason's blood from his hand where he had ripped the werewolf's heart out. "Adele has the stone." Damon glances over his shoulder to Jasmine standing in the doorway of the bathroom. "So it was in the well?" Jasmine nods. "Yeah a well filled with Vervain, looks like Mason didn't trust this Katherine very much."

"With good reason." He mutters drying his hands on a towel before turning to her. "Do you have a ride home?" Even before he asks he can hear the motor of what sounded like a motorcycle. "I'll take that as a no." Jasmine frowns. "Your rides here."

"Oh. Right, I forgot you have super hearing." She laughs slightly walking away and towards the front door with Damon not too far behind her. Before she opens the door she turns back to him. "Listen Damon about what I said earlier, it's true. She loved him enough to throw away everything and I know what you're thinking, that she can't possibly ever love you like that but…she cares about you a lot. You just have to give her time." He doesn't say anything, because he's not sure what to say. He knows she's right, but it still doesn't stop him from believing that she won't ever love him like that. Nothing in his life has ever worked out that good for him before. So lost in his own thoughts he had barely realized the door closing behind her as she slips from the house.

Jasmine sends Michael a smile as she watches him pull his helmet from his head. "Hey, thanks for coming to get me." She mutters as she reaches him and he sends her one of his dazzling smiles. "No problem."

"So you're not mad about earlier?" She asks hesitantly and it causes him to laugh. "No. I was more shocked than mad when I saw him. He is after all purple and when I left he was white."

"I am really sorry about that. It wasn't actually my fault though. I wasn't the one to knock the glass off the table." He shrugs a shoulder holding out his helmet to her. "What's done is done. He'll just stay purple for the next couple of weeks. It'll come out." Jasmine takes the helmet from him.

"How are you so cool about everything? It's like nothing fazes you." He blinks at her a frown lacing his lips and his eyes flash with something Jasmine doesn't catch before he's back to acting like nothing matters. "After a while you just learn to deal with whatever." Jasmine shakes her head. "What does that even mean?" She whispers and he mentions for her to get on the bike. She sighs pulling her hair into a pony tail before pulling the helmet over her head and swinging a leg over the bike. "Hold on tight." He calls over his shoulder and after wrapping her arms around his lean waist she does as he starts the bike once more and she closes her eyes. While she never liked sport bikes before, she was starting to get used to this.

~x~

Adele walks into the kitchen of her house, the moon stone very present in her back pocket. She smiles at Alaric. "Hey. How are you?" She shrugs. "Fine." He nods slowly. "Have you been taking your pain meds?" She rolls her eyes picking up a carrot from the salad in front of her and popping it into her mouth as Elena walks in as well to help set out the dishes for dinner. "No. I don't need them. All they do is make me want to sleep."

"You should still take them, if the pain…"

"The pain is not that bad. Ric don't worry about it." He nods and sighs deciding its best not to fight her on it. She's so stubborn; she reminds him so much of Isobel in ways like that its almost scary. "Who is she talking to?" Elena asks suddenly and Adele turns to see Jenna on the phone. "I don't know." Alaric answers. "Everything go okay today?" Elena nods. "There we're a few hiccups but yeah."

"Of course, I understand." The three turn to Jenna as she closes in on them. "Elena it's for you." She hands the phone to Elena and completely ignores Elena's question of who it is as she walks back over to the counter. Elena shrugs it off placing the phone to her ear. "Hello?" Adele watches as her eyes widen and she looks up at her and Alaric. Adele frowns, a million thoughts of who it could be running through her head, but only one stood out as Elena walks a couple feet away. "Katherine." She hears her mutter confirming her thoughts.

There's not much Alaric and Adele can do besides watch Elena talk to Katherine and whatever there talking about, can't be anything remotely good by the look of Elena's face not that Adele was thinking talking to Katherine would ever be about anything good.

Adele sighs turning her head over to look at the other side of the kitchen when her eyes catch sight of Jenna holding up a knife pointed down at herself. "Jenna no!" She yells but it's too late, Jenna plunges the knife down and into her gut. Both Alaric and Adele spring forward as Jenna falls, Alaric falling to his knees as well as Adele. Elena had dropped the phone running over to them as well.

Elena's hand moves to pull the knife out. "No, don't touch it!" Adele snaps and Elena draws her hand back as Adele pulls out her cell phone, dialing 911 all the while cursing Katherine.

~x~

Her phone buzzes in the back pocket not holding the moon stone and she digs it out just to find that the number is once again blocked. Sighing she answers it. "Hello?" And just like last time there's a few seconds of silence before the dial tone.

"Adele!" She turns her eyes finding Jasmine running down the hall towards her with Michael behind her. "Hey." Adele is able to mutter before Jasmine pulls her into a bone crushing hug. "Is she okay?" Adele pries herself away from her slowly. "She's going to be fine. She got lucky."

"What happened?" Michael asks after pulling her into a hug as well. "She…walked into a knife. Her and Alaric we're making dinner. It was a freak accident." Michael raises an eyebrow. "I'd say." He mutters and Adele only smiles slightly up at him. "How's Willy?" Adele smirks and Michael rolls his eyes. "Purple, thank you very much."

"It'll come out." Jasmine says and Michael huffs and Adele knows he's only pretending to be upset. Michael was barely ever upset. "It'll take weeks for it to come all the way out. He's going to get teased every time he walks outside." Jasmine smiles up at him. "At least now he'll know how the planet feels."

"That's not going to stop him from barking at it."

Despite herself Adele laughs as Jasmine rolls her eyes. "Didn't you say you have to work tonight?"

"Did you agree to restock Mrs. Myers store again?" Adele asks softly and Michael throws his arms up. "What was I supposed to say? She's like 90 something years old and nobody else will agree to help her. I feel bad for the old lady." Mrs. Myers happened to be the woman who owns the store right next to the shop Michael works at in the town over, she on numerous occasions has asked Michael to restock her store for her when it closes, because her husband is dead and her children just won't do it and Michael being the softy that he is, always agrees.

"I should go, her store closes in like 10 minutes. Are you okay?" He asks softly and she nods. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you." When he disappears through the doors Jasmine turns on Adele. "What really happened?"

"Katherine, my sisters evil look alike. I guess she's been using Jenna as a spy for weeks without any of us knowing and Stefan and Elena we're only pretending to be broken up which of course Katherine found out about and now we also have the moon stone. She took drastic measures to a whole new level Jazzy."

Jasmine sighs as Adele crosses her arms. "Who were you talking to when we walked in?" She asks wanting to chance the subject. "No one."

"You didn't look too happy…"

"It was no one Jasmine. Literally, no one, a blocked number and when I answer it nobody says anything, all they do is hang up." Jasmine's face had paled even more so than it already was making Adele raise an eyebrow. "What?"

"It's them." Jasmine whispers.

"Who?" Adele whispers back.

"Them. Adele the hunters. They used to do it to me, whenever I got away from them. When they found me, they'd call the number I had at the time but they wouldn't say anything. It was like there way of saying, "we found you" it was always a matter of time before they came after me."

Adele shakes her head. "We have to go Adele; we have to get out of here." She can see the panic in Jasmines green eyes as well as the tears. "Jazzy, clam down, we're not doing anything right now. For all we know this could just be someone trying to mess with me. Just clam down. We'll figure this out." Jasmine takes a deep breath nodding slowly. "Okay, come on I'll drive you back to Michaels. I have to give Damon the moon stone."

~x~

She's walking up to the door when it opens and Elena slips out, her eyes glazed over, her cheeks wet, and mascara smudging under her eyes. She stops when she realizes Adele is standing there. "I broke up with Stefan, for good. That's it. She wins." With that said Elena pushes past her practically running to her car. Turning her head back to look forward Adele isn't surprised to see Damon standing there staring back at her.

"I brought you the moon stone." Damon nods moving aside to let her in. She walks past him, but doesn't go further than the door way. He closes the door before turning to her and she holds it out waiting for him to take it but he never does. "Keep it. I'll know it's safe if it's with you." Adele doesn't argue; she just stuffs it back into her back pocket.

"I'm sorry." Looking back up she frowns at Damon. "Sorry for what?" She sighs reaching up to itch her forehead. She does not have a good feeling about anything at the moment. "It's my fault." He whispers and she shakes her head. "Katherine…"

"I called her." Adele stops talking. "I provoked her. Stefan told me not to, but I did it anyways."

"It's fine Damon…."

"No Adele. You know you don't have to act like this." The shock of his words is visible in her features as she stares up at him. "What are you talking about? Act like what?"

"Act like all the shit happening doesn't faze you, act like you can take on the world alone and win."

"It's not an act Damon. It's what I believe. It's what I have to believe. I can't be like Elena. I can't break down and be like the world is ending then get up the next day and be ready to face it. I have to believe that I can take on the world alone and win. I guess you can say it's the way my mind is wired."

"You're afraid." He mummers, he can see it in her eyes.

"Of course I'm afraid Damon. My aunt almost died tonight because Katherine didn't get what she wants…and we all thought you were a psychopath." She breaks off in a laugh, a laugh that has no real humor behind it. "How am I supposed to feel now that I realize that everyone I love is in danger, everyone. She already got to Caroline, you had to kill Mason because he was involved with her, now she's gone after Jenna and I know Elena is on her hit list, the reason she hasn't killed her yet is a mystery to all of us. She ruined Elena and Stefan, she's messed with you. Who's next? Jeremy? Tyler? Alaric? Me? I don't think I can stand much more of this Damon. Too much is happening way to fast."

Adele's not sure where any of that had come from. For the most part it's true but her speech even to herself felt more like a goodbye speech than anything, like she was preparing Damon for something. It might have something to do with her gut telling her what Jasmine was saying earlier at the hospital might actually be true.

"What are you saying Adele?" He whispers, his blue eyes slightly wide. By the expression on his face Adele can guess he caught the hidden message as well. "I don't know. I don't know anything right now." She whispers back. "Well…I do know one thing and it's that that bitch has got to go." She breaths and Damon nods. "I know. Believe me I know. And I think I've got a plan." Adele nods.

"Do me a favor?" He doesn't say anything and she takes that as her cue to continue. "Keep Elena and me out of it, as much as possible. Just this one time, I want nothing to do with Katherine. And you know what…Jeremy too. I don't want him getting hurt and I know how determined he is to help."

Damon stares at her for a moment before nodding once more. "I'll try."

* * *

><p><strong>As you read, I put a part that was of Bonnie's POV because I know in earlier chapters I've expressed Adele's dislike for Bonnie but I never quite expressed Bonnie's own dislike for Adele and I wanted to do that here and I think I did pretty good. (: <strong>

**Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed! **

* * *

><p><strong>Previews for the next Chapter: <strong>

_**Damon and Stefan come up with what they think is a full proof plan to kill Katherine. **_

_**Jasmine forces Michael and Adele to attend the Masquerade ball with her.**_

_**Adele makes a decision regarding her and Jasmine. **_


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22. For anyone who read the original, you know that I had put two episodes in one chapter but here I had decided to just put one, if I had put two it would have been very, very long. **

**Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please Review. (: **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 22: Masquerade<strong>

Michael leans back against the head board of his bed with Willy curled up in his lap and Jasmine sitting beside him, facing him with her legs pulled up underneath her. With her raven hair pulled up into a high messy bun and her hello kitty PJ shorts and tank top, she looks positively cute as she stares at him with wide green eyes.

It's close to 9 in the morning and Michael having gotten home not even an hour ago from working was tired but not that tired, he had gotten use to the hard hours he was forced to put in after school when it came to paying the bills. Jasmine was asleep when he got home but after stripping out of his work shirt and plopping down on his bed in only his jeans, Willy had come running into the room to curl in his lap and not even 10 minutes later Jasmine came bouncing in as well, not that he minded. Really he didn't. He enjoyed having the raven haired girl there with him. There was just something about her.

"I'm not going dress shopping with you and Adele." He finally says as an answer to the question she had asks after crawling into the bed. She huffs. "Why not? It'll be fun."

"You cannot seriously think that I'll have any fun watching you girls shop for dresses? Does Adele even know about this little shopping trip or are you going to spring this on her as well?"

"I did not spring this on you. You knew this was coming." He sighs because unfortunately for him he did.

"I'm still not going."

She frowns. "Fine, you are at least going to the ball right?" He shakes his head and her eyes widen. "What?" She practically shirks and he shrugs. "Huge town social events just aren't my thing. They never have been. Don't feel bad, I refused to go with Adele to these things as well."

"Michael…" Sighing she shifts on the bed. "Please. I don't know that many people here besides you and Adele and I really want to go. I've never been to one of these things before. What if Adele disappears on me? She does that you know and then I'm left alone." He can hardly believe she just played that card on him.

"That's not fair Jasmine. You cannot play the helpless new girl here."

"I can and I will. Please." Her eyes widen and she pushes her lip out slightly and he groans throwing his head back to bang against the head bored. "I don't have a mask. Isn't it like required that you wear a mask? It is after all a Masquerade ball."

"I'll pick you up one while I'm out." He stares at her knowing there's no way in hell he's getting out of this. "Fine." He mumbles and she squeals launching herself forward and into his arms before shooting from the bed and out of the room. Michael shakes his head looking down at Willy who is staring up at him. "She's going to be the death of me. I can already tell."

"I heard that!" He jumps looking up to his half-closed bedroom door.

~x~

Adele stands towel drying her hair in front of the mirror in her bathroom. Her phone is buzzing on the counter next to her but she isn't going to answer it. Not with the number blocked.

When she figures her hair is dry enough she throws the towel into the hamper before grabbing her phone and making her way from the bathroom. She stops watching as Jasmine runs her fingers lightly over the new picture additions to her wall. Jasmine turns away from the wall as the bathroom door closes and smiles softly at Adele. "Jeremy let me in." Adele nods. "What are you doing here so early?"

"I was thinking we could go shopping, for dresses."

Adele groans. "I have dresses, we could just wear those." Jasmine rolls her eyes. "We still need masks so we might as well get dresses to." Adele sighs running a hand through her slightly tangled half wet hair.

"By the way, Michael is coming with us to the ball." Jasmine adds as an afterthought and her eyes widen as Adele sharp blue eyes turn to her suddenly. "What?" Jasmine nods. "How did you get him to agree to that? Please I would love to know how in the three years I dated him, I could not get him to agree to anything and yet here you come getting him to jump at your every desire."

Jasmine smirks. "I don't know, maybe the same way Damon jumps to your every desire." Adele gasps. "You would play the Damon card." Jasmine laughs softly shrugging. "Well you know me."

Adele shakes her head dialing a number on her phone. "Who are you calling?" Jasmine asks coming forward.

~x~

Caroline takes her attention away from the boys looking over Alaric's vampire hunting weapons to her cellphone buzzing in her pocket. She'd be lying if she said the many weapons on the table that could easily kill her didn't make her in the least bit uneasy, it's the reasons she's standing off to the side instead of examining them like Damon and Stefan.

Looking down at her phone, her eyes widen. "It's Adele." She calls and everyone freezes, even Bonnie who is walking towards the rest of them after talking to Stefan. "Should I answer it?" She asks and Damon shakes his head. "No. We're not involving her."

"Well…I don't know. Adele is tough, we could use her…"

"No." It's Alaric who speaks up putting down the stake shooter he's holding. "What you guys are doing is dangerous and you don't need her put in the line of fire. The Gilbert twins are not to be involved, at all." Damon smirks up at Alaric. "How very fatherly of you Ric wanting to protect your step daughters."

Caroline looks like she wants to protest and Damon sighs. "Look Adele knows we're planning something…She's the one who said the bitch has to go and I told her I would take care of it. She made it very clear to me that she wants no part in what we come up with. She also made it very clear she doesn't want Elena or you…" He stops to point at Jeremy. "Involved but seeing as you're here, I can give her two out of three. Do not answer that phone."

Caroline looks down at the phone which is still buzzing in her hand. Adele is her best friend, she feels kind of bad keeping something like this from her. "Caroline." Damon's voice breaks through her thoughts and she looks back up. "Put the phone away."

~x~

The bell above the door dings as she pushes it open. After failing to get a hold of Caroline, Adele had sucked it up and agreed to go shopping with Jasmine. She had every thought to pawn Jasmine off on Caroline, knowing her perky blonde best friend could give Jasmine the shopping experience of her life.

Mama's Boutique is just a small corner shop in town square that Adele had worked at a couple times during her summers because the woman who owned the shop, a woman known to the town as Mama Jean is a bit…out of her mind at least that's what everyone thought.

Jasmine frowns watching as a grey haired woman pops her head out from behind the counter at the back of the story. Adele smirks back at her. "That is Mama Jean. She's kind of crazy, just a heads up."

"W-who goes there?" The old woman calls out and Adele begins forward, her keys jingling softly in her hand as she does. "It's me Mama." The woman peers up at her. "Adele Gilbert. Who is that?" Her dulling black eyes find Jasmine who is standing not fair behind Adele. "This is Jasmine. She's a friend." Mama studies her closely and Jasmine shifts uncomfortable. "I'm watching you." The woman finally whispers for ducking back down and Jasmine's eyes widen.

Adele leans her elbows on the counter and leans over staring down at the old lady sitting on the floor. "Mama Jean…what are you doing?" She asks softly. "I'm hiding…from the vampires." Adele glances back at Jasmine who shrugs. Adele stands up straight and pushes herself up onto the counter so she can easily slip to the other side where she to ducks down to come face to face with Mama Jean.

"Mama…The vampires are gone." Adele's voice is sweet and low as the woman looks up at her. "You don't know that sweetheart." Adele nods. "I do. We haven't had vampires in town since 1864. They took care of it back then."

It took a few more moments of convincing on Adele's part but she soon got Mama Jean to stand up, where she could explain their plans for the night to her and what they need. As she finishes explaining Mama Jean seems to be in deep thought. "I…I have the perfect dress for you." Mama Jean disappears into the back and Adele turns to smirk at Jasmine who shakes her head. "Crazy is an understatement." Jasmine mutters and Adele laughs. "But she is extremely sweet; you kind of have to look past it."

Adele turns back to the back of the store in time for Mama to appear holding a rather large clothing box. Adele frowns looking at it. What kind of dress could possibly be hiding in that? "I wore this dress to my prom and now I want you to have it." She pulls the top off carefully and sets it to the side before pushing back the tissue paper to reveal a stunning black strapless dress. "Oh my god." Jasmine mutters as she looks down at it.

Adele straightens her back as she looks down at the dress somewhat cautiously. "Are you sure? I mean…" Mama Jeans waves a hand cutting off Adele smoothly. "All I have is sons and grandsons. You are the closet thing I have to a granddaughter. I insist. Come, you must try it on."

~x~

"So Sweetheart, do you have a date to this ball?" Adele is caught momentary off guard by the question as she freezes behind the old fashioned changing screen. "No." She recovers quickly and Mama Jean makes a tisking noise from the other side. "A shame. A beautiful girl such as yourself shouldn't be dateless for a ball."

Her mind goes immediately to Damon but she shakes the thought as quickly as it came. "Well what can you do?" She laughs slightly stepping out from behind the screen having gotten the dress on easily enough. "Oh my." Mama Jean breaths lightly as she takes in the young girl.

~x~

She slowly pushes pieces of clothing across the rack, looking over every piece carefully as she waits for Adele. The bell telling them someone was entering the store rings causing Jasmine to look up and she raises an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?" Damon Salvatore's smirk tells her exactly what he's doing there. Looking for her.

"What?" Jasmine almost groans causing Damon to laugh. "Not to worry, it's nothing really. I just need you to do one small thing." Jasmine looks up at him as he stops next to the rack she's standing at. "I need you to keep Adele as far away from the Masquerade Ball as possible." It's Jasmines turn to laugh. "No can do. Why do you think we're even here Damon? We're buying dresses to that exact ball." Damon curses silently. "Why Damon is it so important Adele stay away from the ball?" She asks casually as she turns to look at him, tilting her head as if she can see right through him.

"My brother and I have plans, huge plans and you know how my plans can be. Messy and dangerous and with this one, I don't want Adele anywhere near it." His tone is serious along with the look in his blue eyes that has Jasmine frowning.

"Damon…?" Turning in surprise Jasmine's eyes widen as she takes in her blonde friend. Glancing sideway to the vampire next to her, his eyes are wide as well, glued to Adele. "Wow…" She hears him breathe out. "Adele…" He trails off and she steps forward her eyes narrowing slightly as she looks at him. "What are you doing here?" She asks softly and Jasmine is impressed at how quickly he recovers. "I'm looking for a tie." He blinks at the blonde who scoffs. "You have ties Damon. Plenty of them." _She would know._ Jasmine thinks in amusement as she watches the two interact with one another.

There's a lightness about them, wrapped an unexplored feeling. It's like watching a realty show live, she just can't get enough. "None that pop out at me." He flashes her a smile. "I'll just be going now." And he disappears as quickly as he came. Adele turns to look at Jasmine who shrugs lightly. "He weird." She mutters and Adele laughs. Yes he is.

~x~

"Is he treating you good?" Once again Adele is stunned by the question as she's slipping out of the dress. "What?" She asks lightly poking her head out to look at Mama Jean who is staring at her with knowing dark eyes. "That man who was here. Is he treating you good?" Adele is at a loss for words as she stares at Mama. "I'm not stupid young lady." She scolds and Adele ducks back behind the screen quickly. "I saw the way he looked at you and I saw the way you looked at him."

Adele takes a deep breath as she pulls on her jeans. "It's complicated."

"Well than you just have to un-complicate it. Life is too short to be complicated." Adele doesn't respond as she runs over what she just said in her head. Adele's not sure there is a way to un-complicate it, if there was, she would have taken the opportunity to do it a while ago.

~x~

Jasmine lets them into the apartment swiftly her arms full of shopping bags while Adele carries her single box and single bag. Adele bends kind of awkwardly to pat Willy on the head before making her way further into the apartment with Jasmine right behind her.

Adele pushes the door to Michael's bedroom open before switching on the lights to which Michael, laying on his bare stomach on the bed groans throwing a pillow over his head. Adele and Jasmine place their bags and Adele's box on the floor next to the door before Adele moves to the bathroom connected to Michael's bedroom. Both girls ignore Michael who is grumbling unhappily under his pillow.

Adele bends down looking under the sink and sighs turning to look out the open bathroom door to Jasmine who is going through the bags. "Do you have a curler? There's only an old straightener under here, which now that I think about it…is mine." Jasmine laughs. "Yeah, I do." Michael who has now sat up is looking between the two girls in his room. "You do realize it's like 3 in the afternoon right?" Jasmine asks not looking back at Michael who turns his dark eyes from the bathroom and Adele going through the contents under his sink to her and blinks, reaching up to rub his tired eyes. "Considering what time I got home this morning…you're really asking me that?" His voice is deeper than usual, laced with sleep and Jasmine stands up straight turning to look at him with her hands on her hips.

"Yes I am, because we have to start getting ready." He groans falling back down and shoving the pillow back onto his head. Jasmine laughs and walks over to rip the pillow from him. "Don't do that. It's time to rise and shine gorgeous." She smacks him playfully with the pillow and he grabs at it yanking it hard causing her to fall onto the bed over his lap. Adele laughs having caught half of that from the bathroom.

~x~

After ushering Adele out of the bathroom, Michael jumps in the shower leaving the girls to mess around in his room with Willy. "He's just so…" Jasmine trails off as she smooth's her dress out on the bed and Adele glances at her. "Private, secretive, mysterious?" Jasmine snorts. "Yes."

"He has his reasons. He'll tell you. Just…give him time." Jasmine stops to look over at her. "We seem to be saying that a lot about our...relationships with people lately." Adele sighs. "Because it's true."

"It just seems like something horrible happened to him when he was younger." Adele nods. "I guess you can say that. Look as much as I want to tell you, I can't. It has to be him. He'll tell you when he's ready."

The Bathroom door opens and both girls turn watching Michael as he walks over to his dresser in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. He grabs a couple things from his drawer before grabbing a pair of jeans and walking back into the bathroom and closing the door. Adele turns back to continue setting out her outfit when she catches sight of Jasmine, who's green eyes are wide and her pale cheeks have a slightly pink tint to them. Adele laughs.

"It took everything in me not to faint." She squeaks after a moment which causes Adele to laugh harder.

~x~

Adele pushes her mask into place as she's carefully walking towards the party. Jasmine and Michael are behind her having dropped back to talk. "Does she seem...weird lately?" Jasmine blinks up at Michael. "What do you mean?" He shrugs lightly, his arm brushing against hers. "Every time I talk to her she seems...discreet, kind of like she's hiding some dark secret she doesn't want me to know."

Jasmine almost stops walking, completely taken by surprise at his observation. She controls herself quickly and sends him a reassuring smile. "I'm sure it's just stress. She's fine."

Adele tells the two to go on before breaking off from them and making her way over to the steps that lead to the lower level of the yard. She steps up next to Damon who sends a smirk in her direction. "I swear I've seen that tie in your closet." She remarks causing him to laugh and she smiles at the sound. "Well, I settled." She nods looking out over the people. "Are you going to tell me why you we're checking up on me today?" He pretends to think about it before shaking his head. "No."

She sighs softly. "I have to get back. I'll see you later?" He nods and she turns to begin her way back over to Michael and Jasmine. "Adele…" Stopping she turns slightly to look back up at him. "You look beautiful." She smiles and she can feel the heat rushing to her cheeks. "Thank you."

~x~

There passing through the house, to get to the bathrooms having left Michael outside to fend off his fan girls himself. Jasmine had just brought up Michael's question to her early thinking Adele might want to know, he's on to her. "Maybe we should tell him…" Adele stops abruptly to turn and look at her, her eyes wide and serious.

"No." She whispers. "We can't."

"Adele…I'm just saying…"

"Jasmine, if there's one person in this world who doesn't need to know what's crawling around this town, its Michael. Nothing can happen to him. He's got a sister…He just…we can't tell him. If he knows nothing, he'll be safe."

Jasmine sighs as she looks up at her closest friend. "You don't really believe that do you?"

Adele doesn't say anything for a minute as she looks away from Jasmine out towards the main area of the house, where people have crowded to mingle with one another. "I believe the more time I spend with him, the more danger I put him in."

"Do you still love him?" Jasmine asks softly and Adele's blue eyes return to her. "Not in the way you're asking."

Adele jerks forward and Jasmine throws her hands out to stop the blonde from falling over. Adele straightens up and spins around to look up at the woman who just slammed into her. "I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going." Adele looks the woman in the gold mask over silently for a second. "Yeah. It's okay." She mummers and the woman tilts her head as she looks down at her. "I haven't seen you around before." Adele mentions in an attempt to get the woman to stop studying her.

"I'm visiting and you are…?"

"Adele Gilbert." The woman's eyebrows rise as if she's surprised. "Well it was nice to meet you Miss. Gilbert. Goodbye." She walks away quickly and Adele turns back to Jasmine who is looking after the woman with her green eyes narrowed. "That was weird." Jasmine nods, there was something off about that woman, she just can't place it.

~x~

Michael smiles politely at the girl in front of him. She's talking but he's not exactly sure what she's saying, his attention is on Jasmine standing across the yard with Adele. He should just ask her to dance. Though he doesn't exactly like to dance, he should do it anyways. Any excuse to be close to her.

With a deep breath, he excuses himself from the small group and begins his way over to the two girls. As he reaches them there conversion trails off and he has have a mind to ask what it was they we're talking about but he thinks better of it and smiles instead. "What was Carrie talking about?" Adele asks and Michael shrugs a shoulder. "Something about a test next week." Adele nods looking between Jasmine and Michael. "I think you to need to dance." Jasmine looks over to her as Michael raises an eyebrow, she sends him a smirk and he shakes his head wondering how she does that. How does she always know what he's thinking.

"Um…" Jasmine's not sure what to say, she's never been good when put on the spot. Michael holds out a hand and she looks at it before looking up at him and small smile forms on her lips as she takes his hand and lets him lead her to where the dancing is going on.

He pulls her close, letting his arms rest loosely around her waist as she hooks her hands around his neck, being too short to wrap her arms around his neck. There silent for a few minutes, just ignoring each other's company, but there's something that's been bothering him since he heard her and Adele talking back at the apartment.

"I have a sister." Jasmine looks up at him. "She's 13. She lives up Pittsburgh with our Aunt. I spent her up there a couple years ago, after our father was arrested. See...my parents, they didn't want kids so when I was born they were anything but joyed. My father is a real bastard, an alcoholic. He used to beat my mom, when I was 5 she got pregnant. He backed off during her pregnancy but after my sister was born the beatings got worse. My mother soon met a guy, who was already married and she became obsessed with this guy and when he moved his family away, she followed. Gave up all rights she had to my sister and I. After she left, my father turned his attention to me, but I sucked it up because it was better me than her.

My dad got a job offer here in Mystic Falls, so he moved us all down here. I've always had trust issues. I always figured at some point the people you love will turn on you and leave you. Adele was the first person I ever learned to trust. It was a few months into our relationship when she found out about my father. She wanted to help but I wouldn't let her. I guess it was kind of just pure luck when my dad got arrest because he assault a guy at the grill. I was 16 when it happened and I was already paying most of our bills because my dad had lost his job, I did anything I could to make sure the guy was convicted and he was. The only living relative we had was my Aunt but I didn't want to leave Mystic Falls and my Aunt could only afford to take care of one of us, so I got emancipated. It was easy enough seeing as my father was in jail and my mother didn't want me.

My father got released from jail during the summer, I was so afraid he would go after my sister because he always had a…soft spot for her so I went up to Pittsburgh and I stayed there until I could find out where he was. I only agreed to come back for school when I found out he took the first chance he got up to mother, as far as I know that's where he is and my sister is safe."

Jasmine is stunned, she expected him to have something dark about his past but she didn't expect that, she also didn't expect him to tell her that but she's glad he did she just doesn't understand why he all the sudden opened up to her. "I'm so glad you told me that…but why?" She asks softly and he takes a deep breath, his dark eyes more serious than she's ever seen them before. "I don't know, I guess I just…I trust you."

~x~

She's watching the two dance with a smirk. She can't help but think that the two look sweet together. Frowning she opens her small handbag and pulls out her cell phone which is blaring loudly. She rolls her eyes at the blocked number but answers it anyways.

"Hello?"

"Adele Gilbert?" Surprise causes her to freeze. This is the first time the blocked caller has ever said anything and she's also surprised the caller knows her name. After a few seconds a cruel realization crashes over her, leaving her feeling cold. She knows this voice.

"_Hide her!" Tony's deep voice booms over the room and Jasmine is the first to jump forward grabbing a hold of her hand and pulling her along behind her, over to the small closet by the front door. Jasmine shoves her in slamming the sliding door closed just as the front door is busted open and light floods through the living room. Bodies are filing into the house, two at a time moving to the sides to build a wall in front of the door. She doesn't understand what is going on. _

"_Where is she?" She swallows as she hears the demanding voice of what had to be the leader of this large amount of people. She can see Tony standing in front of the rest of them as he gives whoever had spoken a slightly annoyed look. "It is quite rude to barge into someone else's home James. Have you no manors?" _

"_Shut up, you filthy blood sucker." From what she can see Tony rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. "What is it you want James? I'm very busy." _

"_You dead." Tony nods looking back at the others for a moment. "Besides that." He remarks. "The girl." Tony frowns and tilts his head slightly, his blonde hair falling in front of his face. "What girl?" _

"_You know damn well what girl." _

"_Well there are three girls here. Danny but I'm fairly sure after your last run in, you want nothing to do with her." Adele's eyes find Danny who is smirking. "Then we have Jasmine and River but you pride yourself on killing only Vampires and the occasional werewolf so I see no reason for you to have an interest in them. Other than that I have no idea what girl you could possibly be talking about." _

"_You can give me the girl now, or my men will tare this place apart to find her. Where is Adele Gilbert?" _

"Is this Adele Gilbert?" She's snapped out of her memory and back to present times where she still has her phone pressed to her ear. She takes a sharp breath. "No." She whispers harshly before hanging up and she throws her phone to the floor and stomps on it hard, cracking the screen and she kicks it away from her.

Looking up her eyes find Jasmine and she's laughing as Michael spins her around. Adele pushes the panic that has her wanting to vomit back. She needs to confront Jasmine about this but she wants to give her the rest of tonight, she just looks so happy.

She turns her eyes away from them where she spots Jeremy and Elena. Adele eyes narrow. Elena is at home, she had refused to come due to her break up with Stefan which means that is not Elena it's Katherine and Jeremy is talking to her. Her panic quickly turns to anger.

Before she can talk herself out of, she's moving down the steps and towards them. "How's John by the way? We're they able to sew his fingers back on?" Adele grabs the back of Jeremy's jacket and yanks him back hard causing him to stumble slightly as she takes his place, glaring down at Katherine with sharp blue eyes. "They we're, thank you for asking." She snaps.

Katherine's back straightens as she catches the look in her doppelganger's twin's eyes. Her blue eyes we're slowly being developing into black and the look was threatening. This girl had guts and she also had rage, lots of it and Katherine new damn well what rage could do for a person which is the thought she has as she decides it's best to just walk away before things could get ugly.

As she disappears into the crowd of people Adele turns on Jeremy who had made the wise choice to stay put. "Before you say anything…I'm wearing my ring." This just seems to anger her more. "So fucking what!" She snaps and it causes some to look over. She takes a deep breath trying to calm herself down a bit.

"You think that bitch cares if you have some magic little ring that can bring you back to life is she decided to kill you? No she doesn't, you know why? Because it'll take her not even a second to rip it off and actually kill you! Who's bright idea was it for you to actually talk to her? No don't answer that. I know who's idea it was. Is this his plan? He's going to try and do it tonight with all these people around?" Jeremy doesn't say anything and she shakes her head. "Fine. If this thing is already in motion, might as well finish it off and hope like hell it's successful and if you see Damon before I do, make sure he knows I'm going to have his head."

Jeremy nods while passing by her with his phone in his hand. She watches him making his way to the back of the property and she sighs pulling off her mask. She frowns when Jeremy is pulled into the bushes.

~x~

Rounding the corner she's met with the sight of Elena and Jeremy. "What's going on?" She asks and Elena looks up at her with her arms crossed. "Did you know Stefan and Damon our planning on killing Katherine tonight and Jeremy is in on it?" Adele shrugs. "I might have known they we're planning something but not when and where and not that Jeremy would be involved." Elena shakes her head looking between her siblings.

"Bonnie and Caroline are in on it to." Elena gaps at Jeremy as Adele sighs. "No wonder Caroline wouldn't answer this morning."

"Damon told her not to involve you or Elena, so we we're trying to keep it from you guys."

"That also explains Damon's random checking up on me today." There all silent. Adele is in her own head, Elena is trying to wrap her mind around the fact that everyone was planning on killing Katherine and nobody told her and Jeremy is just waiting for someone to say something.

"Hey…what's going on?" There all snapped out of the silence as Bonnie shows up and Elena finally says something. "You guys are trying to kill her here?" Bonnie glances at Jeremy who shrugs before turning back to his sister.

"We saw an opportunity and we knew we had to take it." Elena shakes her head clearly frustrated. "Okay stop with the we; are you guys crazy? You're going to get yourself killed."

"We know what we're doing." Bonnie says and Adele steps up beside them. "I don't exactly agree with how they decided to do it but Elena…this has to happen."

"And how am I supposed to feel if one of you gets hurt because of me?" Adele rolls her eyes.

"It's not just about you anymore Elena. She's missed with all of us she has to be stopped." Jeremy explains which causes Elena to roll her eyes and look away from them. There's a few more moments of silence where nobody knows exactly what to say before Adele suddenly gasps falling forward but catching herself on the edge of the picnic table while reaching back to touch her back. Elena, Jeremy and Bonnie spring forward all yelling at once.

Jeremy grabs her arm and Elena bends down to her level. Adele is taking slow harsh breaths as she sits on the bench, her eyes glazing over with tears. Her whole back feels like it's on fire and she can feel blood seeping into her dress. "What's happening?" Jeremy calls, truly afraid.

Adele lets out a small shirk turning her head to look down at her arm as it slices open on its own and Bonnie and Elena's eyes widen as they watch the scene.

"Katherine!" Jeremy and Elena look at Bonnie. "It's Katherine! She's linked to Katherine! Jeremy get them to stop!" Jeremy doesn't question, he just takes off has quickly as he possibly can, hoping he won't be too late.

Elena bends down next to Bonnie who is bending down in front of Adele. "What is happening?" She cries.

"Whatever Stefan and Damon are doing to Katherine is happening to Adele." Bonnie answers has simply as she can.

"How? I'm the doppelganger, not her."

"But Adele is still related to Katherine by Blood."

~x~

He's so close to getting what he wants, the bitch is finally going to die and he's going to be the one to do it. It really shouldn't be so sweet but it is as he stands over her with Stefan holding in his arms to keep her from going anywhere. He brings the stake in his hand up before bringing it down but before he can plunge it into her heart, someone yells stop but he doesn't. "You're hurting Adele!" His hand freezes right above Katherine's heart.

"Everything you're doing to her is hurting Adele." He straightens up some and the stake slips down in his hand as he looks over his shoulder to the youngest Gilbert with an almost disbelieving look in his blue eyes. After all he did to keep her out of it, she ends up back in. Katherine throws Stefan's arm off her and stand up making Damon look back at her. "You think you two are the only ones with a witch on your side? Wrong…and something tells me that my witch is better than your witch." She takes the stake from Damon who wants nothing more than to strangle her but he can't, not with Adele's life on the line.

"She did get the wrong twin but…Adele is just as effective." Stefan looks back to Jeremy as Katherine pushes past him. "Jeremy go check on Adele. Make sure she's alright. Go now." Once again Jeremy takes off and Katherine rolls her eyes. "Let's all make sure poor Adele is okay. Just a little more pressure and…"

Holding the stake in her left hand she uncurls her right and brings the tip of the stake down to cut a long deep cut into her hand. Stefan slaps the stake away from her.

~x~

Adele clinches her hand closed. Her newly healed wound is now reopened and bleeding freely, not to mention it hurts. She whimpers slightly. "Oh my god. It hurts." She almost cries and Bonnie who looks otherwise helpless shakes her head. "I can't break the spell, Adele I'm sorry but I can try and take some of the pain away." Adele only nods; it's all she can do at this point. Bonnie takes her bleeding hand and quietly she starts to mummer a spell under her breath. Slowly some but not all the pain fades away. She's able to take a couple of deep steady breaths.

~x~

Katherine picks up the stake Stefan slapped from her hand and smirks at the brothers. "This is really going to hurt." She brings the stake up and as she's bringing it down Damon yells, "Wait!"

He can only imagine how much pain Adele is in, being has he had shot Katherine in the back and Stefan had nicked her with a stake in the arm, not to mention the flesh wound on her hand. She has to be losing a good amount of blood as well because unlike Katherine she doesn't heal and being stabbed in the gut will surely help her bleed out faster. He couldn't let her do it. If he wasn't stuck in this room, he would have already been out there helping her.

Katherine smirks at the panicked look on both of the Salvatore's faces. Twirling the stake around in her hand, she sits on the couch behind her and crosses her legs. "So how about that moon stone?"

~x~

Jeremy skids to a stop in front of the picnic table where his sisters and Bonnie are. Adele is still bleeding while Bonnie holds her right hand muttering something under her breath and Elena holds her left hand. "Are you okay?" Jeremy asks as he bends down to her level as well and Adele opens her closed eyes to look at him. "Are they?"

"Their stuck in there with her." In other words, he doesn't know and through the pain Adele is worried for them. Jeremy turns to Bonnie. "You were right. They had a witch link Adele to her. I don't get how though she's…"

Bonnie glances at him. "Blood related. It has to be that girl I saw inside. I knew there was something off about her." Adele looks up at Bonnie. "She ran into me earlier." Bonnie nods letting go of her hand and standing up. "Where are you going?" Jeremy asks. "There's another witch here I'm going to find her! Keep pressure on her shoulder!"

"Wait!" Bonnie stops to look back at Adele. "Elena grab that." Elena looks down to see Adele's handbag and picks it up handing it to her. Adele opens it with shaking hands and pulls out the moon stone. "This is what she wants, give her the damn thing." Bonnie takes the stone Adele is holding out slowly before nodding and running off.

Jeremy pulls the Gilbert ring from his finger. "Adele here…" Adele shakes her head. "No."

"You need it more than I do."

"No Jer, what I need is for you to be safe."

~x~

Damon tries but once again fails to get his hand through the door way of the room. He needed to get out of here; he needed to check on Adele. "The three of us together just like old times, the brother who loved me too much and the one that didn't love me enough." Damon rolls his eyes. Obviously she's trying to annoy them, well two can play at that game.

"And the evil slut vampire who only loved herself." Katherine's eyes return to Damon. It almost shocks her how rude he's being, after all he did love her for a very long time. "What happened to you Damon? You used to be so sweet and polite."

"Oh that Damon died a _long_ time ago." He answers turning around to face her.

"Good. He was a bore." Katherine's gaze doesn't waver from Damon who staring back at her with a look of hatred while all she's feeling is annoyance. She's annoyed that Damon isn't worshiping the ground she walks on anymore. Her plans could go over so much better if he was. It's all this Adele Gilbert's fault. She's turned his world completely away from her and now all he seems focused on is making sure that little human is happy. Katherine hates the blonde almost if not more than she hates Elena and she'll be happy to see her dead but she couldn't kill her herself. There would be no stopping Damon from killing her if she did.

"Why don't you two stop antagonizing each other." Katherine snaps her gaze away from Damon, to Stefan. "Where's the moon stone?"

"What do you want with it?"

Katherine is silent before snorting a laugh. "Do these girls enjoy having one of you worshiping at their alter?" Damon can't help but laugh as Stefan looks back at him grinning. "That's really desperate Katherine. Don't you think we can see right through you?" Stefan asks as he turns back to Katherine with his hands shoved into his pockets. Katherine turns away from Stefan.

"So it doesn't bother you, that the girl you love loves someone else? Someone else who's dead might I add."

Damon's grin falls. "How do you know about that?"

"I know a lot of things, like the fact that she doesn't love you back. Why don't you just tell her how you feel already and let her turn you down? Put you out of your misery of wondering about the unknown." Stefan shakes his head as Damon comes forward. "Stop it." Stefan mutters and Katherine smirks. "Or what? You'll hurt me?" Katherine stands. "Come on. Everything that I feel Adele feels. So go ahead…" She sucks in a breath as she turns to look at Damon. "Or better yet. Kiss me Damon. She'll feel that too."

Stefan can see it in his eyes, Damon wants to hurt her so he takes it upon his self to distract the both of them. "You know this whole Mason thing has me a bit confused. Why a werewolf? The moon stone can break a curse that could help destroy all vampires, so what's in that for you?" Katherine looks to be thinking over her response carefully but she doesn't get to say anything before Damon speaks up from behind her. "Sorry about your pet wolf by the way." He sounds almost sincere. "Guess you should've kept him on a tighter leash."

Katherine now visibly annoyed turns quickly back to Damon. "I'll have to remember that for next time. He's not the only wolf in town."

~x~

"Katherine…The spell on this room has been lifted your free to go." All three vampires look over to the new addition in the room and the only thing keeping Damon from running out the door is the fact that the witch is holding up the moon stone, he had let Adele hold onto.

Katherine walks forward. "Thank god." She moans as she stops in front of the witch. "When I hand this to you my debt to you is over." Katherine nods, her eyes fixed on the stone. "Done." The witch goes to hand it to her but snaps at back at the last second. "I owe you nothing." Katherine rolls her eyes. "I said done, give it."

Damon steps forward. "I wouldn't do that." But the look that the witch sends him makes him stop and she gives Katherine the stone who smirks in what she thinks is victory.

There's a few second of silence before Katherine starts to choke and she opens her hand to look at the moon stone. "You should've told me another witch was involved." Katherine's hand flies up to her throat. "She's a Bennett witch Katherine, but I'm sure you knew that." Katherine falls landing with a soft thud on the rug. "Wait…Adele."

"Adele is fine. She's with Bonnie, she'll heal quickly." She looks up from Katherine. "I apologize for my involvement."

~x~

Adele is weaving through cars trying to get to her own. After briefing Jasmine about what happened, they agreed that she needs to go home and that they would talk tomorrow. Adele still hadn't told her about the call but she was planning on it tomorrow. She was also going to figure out what they wanted from them but she wasn't going to do it here. She was not going to lead them here, not with Damon, Stefan, Caroline and Bonnie here. She saw what they did to Tony and the others, Jasmine was lucky to get out, she was not willing to see them do the same to them because of her.

So she had to leave town, leave Virginia, if not only for a few weeks but she couldn't tell anyone why she was leaving. She had to come up with something.

"Adele…" She quickens her pace, hoping to get away before she's forced to face him. Leaving town is going to involve leaving him and even though she knew she would have to face it in the very near future, she didn't want to face it right now.

Reaching her car she pulls her keys from her hand bag and quickly unlocks the car, but she doesn't have a chance to get in before he's in front of her. She looks up, forcing back tears. "What?"

"Are you okay?" Damon asks softly and her frown deepens. "Define okay." She whispers not trusting her voice. He looks down before looking back up and he looks guilty. "I tried Adele. I tried to keep you out of it." She looks away for a moment, this is her chance. "It doesn't matter how hard you try Damon. I'm always going to be sucked back into it." She pauses looking back up to at him. "I can't do this anymore Damon. I can't keep wondering who's going to get hurt next or who's going to die next."

"What are you saying?" His voice is quite.

"Jasmine is leaving town soon…I'm going with her."

Damon doesn't say anything as he looks at her. It's like he's waiting for the punch line because this sounds like a joke, like a cruel joke but Adele doesn't say anything she just stares back at him. "You have to be kidding me." He finally says and she shakes her head. "I'm not."

"So what that's it? You're just going to run?" He can see tears willing up in her eyes but he doesn't care. He feels pissed and slightly betrayed. "Yeah. I guess you can say that. I have to. I just wish you could understand."

"I can't! I can't understand that! You cannot be serious right now! I can't deal with this right now. I have something to take care but we are not done here! I call you later." Adele swallows back the tears.

"You can't." Damon narrows his eyes. "Why not?"

"I broke my phone, I'm getting a new one tomorrow. It doesn't matter though. There's nothing else to talk about. I'm leaving and that's it. That's all I have to say about it."

* * *

><p><strong>As you could see, I focused some on Jasmine and Michael. I hope you don't mind. I also explained a lot about Michael's past, once again, hope you don't mind. We're finally getting some Intel on the summer as well has who's been calling Adele. There's a lot more Intel on the summer to come so just hang tight. Review please. <strong>

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><p><em><strong>Previews for the next Chapter: <strong>_

**Adele and Jasmine have to decide on what to do about the mysterious caller. **

**Damon and Stefan have to save Elena. **

**Damon and Adele continue to fight about her decision.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Wow, I finished this fast. xD I hope you all like it, It's not as long as most i'm sorry for that. Please let me know what you think of this chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

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><p><strong>Chapter 23: Rose<strong>

She sighs as she picks up her new phone from the table. She had gone early this morning to purchase a new IPhone and had sent a text to all the numbers she could remember by heart telling them she got it and one of those numbers had been Damon's. She then went and picked up Jasmine all the while texting –or should she say fighting with– Damon. After a few minutes of just driving around, she had gotten fed up and drove them out to the next town over, not wanting any surprise visits from the vampire. They've been fighting all morning.

_You're being unreasonable. Think about what you're saying here Adele. Stop being selfish and just think for a moment. ~Damon_

Adele throws the phone back down on the table with a loud thud that causes Jasmine to jump. "What has the two of you fighting? You two we're fine yesterday." Adele pushes hair off her shoulder as she looks up at Jasmine. "He's being a dick." She quickly picks her phone back up and hits reply.

"You just told him that didn't you?" Adele sighs once again placing the phone down. "Yes." Jasmine can't help but laugh at her friend. "Besides Damon being a…dick, why are you two fighting?"

Adele waits until the waiter who has brought them there drinks leaves before leaning forward. "I told him we're leaving."

~x~

"This has Katherine written all over." Stefan says to his older brother who is typing a message fiercely into his phone with livid blue eyes. "Katherine's in the tomb. Trust me I'm the one who shut her in." Damon responds finally looking up at his brother after sending whatever he was typing out to whoever he was talking to.

Stefan had called him up to the school after Jeremy informed him Elena hadn't come home last night and that her car was still at the Lockwood's but the minute Damon showed up, Stefan could tell he wasn't even close to being in a good mood and the way his icy eyes burned and he seemed more absorbed in the conversion he's having with whoever he is texting proved to him that something was going on and he could guess it had something to do with Adele who according to Jeremy has gone completely A-wall for the day.

"Did you?"

"Did I what Stefan?"

"Well I know the hold that Katherine has on you." _What a way to anger him more._ Stefan thinks to himself but he too is now on edge, so he doesn't care how angry Damon is at the moment.

"She's in the tomb. Period. End of Story." He snaps and Stefan turns away in frustration. "But she did say something to me right before I shut her in." Damon mutters after a second, the rest of last night's events coming back to him. "I thought she was lying." Stefan who has turned back to him, comes closer. "What did she say?"

"Elena's in danger."

"What? And you didn't think you should've asked her to elaborate?"

"Everything she says is a lie! How was I supposed to know she would start spouting out the truth?"

"We have to go talk to her." Says Stefan and Damon shakes his head. "No, let me tell you how that's going to go. We're going to go ask her for help, she's going to negotiate her release which we're going to be dumb enough to give her and she's going to get out and kill us. This is exactly what she wants." Damon's phone buzzes in his hand but he ignores it for the time being as he watches Stefan begin to walk away. "It's a bad idea." He calls and Stefan turns back for a second. "It's Elena."

Stefan leaves him standing there and Damon finally looks down at his phone. So she did respond. He was sure after what he said, she wasn't going to respond. He opens the message.

_Stop being selfish? I'll stop being selfish when you stop being a dick! ~Adele_

He clinches his phone in his hand tightly, so tightly he thinks it might shatter.

~x~

"What do you mean leaving?" Jasmine whispers and Adele leans back in her chair, stretching her back which was sore due to last night, her wounds had healed but they left small scars, that would go away with time, not to mention the areas still hurt. "I got another call from the blocked number, this time the guy asked if it was me and I recognized his voice. Jazzy it was the guy that led the group back in Florida." Jasmines eyes had widened to the size of nickels.

"Oh no." She breaths and Adele nods. "What are we going to do Adele?"

"We're going to find out what they want."

"What? No. We can't do that!" Jasmine is close to hysterics.

"We have to, Jazzy if we don't find out what they want now, we're going to end up running for the rest of our lives and I'm just not up for that. There not going to stop until we face them." Jasmine's green eyes have well up with tears. "You know I'm right." Adele whispers soothingly and she nods.

"I know, but…they could hurt more people."

"Which is why we're leaving, just until we know what they want. I wouldn't leave but I can't lead them here, not with the chance that they could pull what they did last time."

"Where are we going to go?"

"I haven't decided yet. I don't think they're going to do anything right now, so we have some time to get our plans together, and save up some money. Don't worry Jasmine. Everything is going to be okay."

~x~

Jeremy lays out the map of Virginia, on the desks they had pushed together while Bonnie lights the two candles she's placed next to the map, Bonnie had talked to Stefan about finding Elena and told him that she might have a way. "How does this work?" Jeremy asks and Bonnie doesn't take her attention from the candles as she answers him. "I'll use your blood to draw the energy for the tracking spell. Your blood related, it'll make the connection stronger."

Stefan walks in quickly closing the door behind him. "Okay, Alaric said we have to clear out of here within 10 minutes. I got weapons, he stocked me up." He explains as he throws a duffle bag onto Alaric's desk. Bonnie holds up the small knife in her hand as she looks to Jeremy. "Are you ready?" Jeremy doesn't say anything, he just gives the young witch a look that says "Not really but I'll do what I have to," and Bonnie takes his hand to cut a long but not too deep cut along his palm before letting him go. Jeremy closes his hand and squeezes letting drops of blood fall to the map.

Bonnie starts the spell as Jeremy picks up a towel to wrap around his hand and stop the bleeding. Him and Stefan then watch as the drops of blood come to together and start to move. As Bonnie opens her eyes once more, the blood slows to a stop. "There." Bonnie points to a single location on the map, next to where the blood has stopped. "She's there."

"That's three hundred miles away." Jeremy says and Stefan shakes his head. "No Bonnie, we need a more exact location then that." Bonnie stands up straight and gives Stefan a look of apology. "That's as close as I can get."

"We can map it. Aerial view, it'll show us what's around there. Help us narrow down the area." Stefan nods up at him. "Perfect. Call me with whatever you find." Stefan straightens up and begins towards the door, grabbing the duffle bag on his way. Jeremy rushes around the desks. "No, no. I'm coming with you."

"No Jeremy, you're not."

"Well I'm not just going to sit here. What if she's hurt, or worse, what if she's…"

"She's not." Unknown to the boys, Bonnie noses has started to bleed and she frowns deeply at the map, where a drop of blood has fallen while reaching up to wipe at her nose so they don't see. "You two go back to your house just in case. I'm going to call the minute I find her."

"Wait you can't do this alone." The door clicks up and both boys look back to see Damon standing there while Bonnie continues to wipe the blood from her nose. "He's not, let's go." Stefan is alone a tiny bit surprised.

"You're coming with me?" Though Damon can be selfish and he can act like he doesn't care about anyone, Elena has slowly become a friend to him and he wasn't about to let a friend die. "It's Elena."

When both Salvatore's are gone, Jeremy turns back to Bonnie who is just standing off to the side. "Let's pack up, get to the house." She nods and turns to start folding up the map and put away the candles. "We should call Adele. Let her know what's going on, if Damon hasn't already." Jeremy says as an after-thought and Bonnie straightens up. "I'll do it." Jeremy watches her leave the room quickly. Since when does Bonnie volunteer to talk to Adele?

~x~

"How can you be so sure everything is going to be okay?" Jasmine asks. They had dropped the subject and finished off their drinks before leaving the small coffee shop. Now they we're walking along a line of shops, Adele having mentioned she's not ready to go back and face Damon yet. He had stopped texting her and she was thankful. It wasn't often when Adele wanted to be away from Damon but, she wants nothing to do with him at the moment. Not until he's calmed down.

Jasmine had let the subject be dropped but she had so many questions, like for one, how could Adele be so cool about all this when she was freaking out? And how the hell was she so sure everything would work out?

Adele stops to turn to her, her blue eyes intense. "I'm not but maybe if I say it enough it'll be true." Adele's phone buzzes in her pocket and she sighs. "Damon?" Jasmine asks and Adele takes the phone out to look at the caller. "No…Bonnie." She says, her voice full of shock and Jasmine raises an eyebrow.

~x~

Bonnie had rushed into the girl's bathroom and checked the stalls before pulling out her phone. She checked in the mirror to make sure her nose wasn't bleeding anymore while dialing Adele's number. Bonnie had no history of nose bleeds. They weren't normal for her and she's wondering if maybe it has something to do with being a witch, maybe it's a witch thing.

"Bonnie…" Adele's voice rings through the phone and Bonnie turns from the mirror.

"Elena's been kidnapped."

"What?" Adele snaps and Bonnies surprised she doesn't already know.

"Damon didn't tell you?" She finds herself asking.

"No, he didn't tell me. How long has he known? How long have you known? When did this happen?"

"Last night, after everything that happened yesterday I guess. I'm guessing Damon's known as long as Stefan and Stefan came to me about 30 minutes ago. Jeremy's the one who found out when he saw Elena hadn't come home last night through he thought she was with Stefan but she wasn't."

"That asshole!" Adele snaps and it's clear that's she's furious but not with her, which is a refreshing change.

"We've been able to narrow down what area she's in, just not her exact location." She hears Adele sigh.

"Okay. Just when you find out her exact location, text me the address please." Bonnie nods before she realizes Adele can't see her.

"Yeah okay. One more thing…" Adele is silent waiting for Bonnie to continue. "Can you ask Jasmine if it's normal for witches to get nose bleeds?" Bonnie can hear whispering but she can't make out what their saying.

"She said you're using too much magic at once. You're powerful that much she can tell but you need to be taking it slow, building up your power, using more magic then you can handle at the moment could end up killing you. She says it should explain everything in your grimoir, just read the whole thing, cover to cover. Don't skim through just to find what you're looking for."

"Killing me?" Bonnie whispers as she thinks back to her Grams.

"Yeah. Which means, are you listening to me? Are you listening good?" Bonnie rolls her eyes.

"Yes, Adele I'm listening."

"Take it easy. Slow it down and be careful." With that Adele hangs up and Bonnie pulls the phone away, looking at it. For a minute there, it sounded like Adele actually cared. Bonnie must be going crazy.

~x~

"How much further is it?" Stefan asks as he glances at Damon, who is the one driving of course.

"About 80 miles."

"Who do you think took her?" It's a question that's been bothering him all day.

"Someone from Katherine's past. She said she was running from someone. Maybe they got the wrong girl?" Even has he says it, he's not sure he believes it and Stefan looks away from the window to look at him. "Thank you…for helping me."

"Can we not do the whole road trip bonding thing. The cliché of it all makes me itch." And just to prove his point, he reaches up to scratch his shoulder making Stefan huff.

"Aw come on Damon. We both know that you being in this car has absolutely nothing to do with me anyways." Damon rolls his eyes at his brothers comment. For a while now, Stefan has been discreetly trying to get him to attempt his feelings for Adele, at least Stefan thinks it's been discreetly. Now it seems like he's just going to come right out with it.

"And the Elephant in the room lets out a mighty roar." He jokes.

"It doesn't have to be an Elephant you know. Let's talk about it." Damon lets out a laugh but it's forced. "There's nothing to talk about."

"That's not true. Sure there is. Just get it out. I mean are you in this car because you want to help your little brother save the girl that he loves or is it because you want to save the sister of the girl you love so she doesn't hate you in the end?" Stefan blinks at Damon, who smiles tightly. "Hm? I mean come on. Express yourself. I happen to like road trip…bonding."

"Keep it up Stefan. I could step out of helping just as quickly as I stepped in."

"Nope. See that's the beauty of it. You can't." Damon takes his eyes from the road to glare at Stefan who turns away with a smirk.

As he returns his eyes to the road his phone rings and Damon glances down at it, in the cup holder. "Could you see who that is? I'm driving." Stefan picks the phone up to look at the screen. "Adele." He says and before Damon can tell him to ignore it, Stefan answers it.

"Damon's phone." He says.

"So now he's having you answer my calls? Give him the phone Stefan!" Stefan shoves the phone at Damon, his eyes wide. He's never heard her so mad before.

Damon takes it with a roll of his eyes. "What?" He practically snaps into the phone which makes Stefan's eyes widen even more. "Why am I the last person to find out Elena was kidnapped?"

"Because you made your choice."

"Oh. So that's how it's going to be, I decide what I need and now you're going to shun me because you don't like what I decide? How mature of you Damon I can see now that you truly do act you age! Your 160 something years old, grow up!"

"So now I'm a dick and I need to grow up? I didn't know you could be such a bitch, at least I know now! Better late than never!"

"Ugh!" Adele hangs up and Damon throws the phone back at Stefan who sits there stunned.

~x~

Adele is driving towards Mystic Falls when she gets a text from Jeremy with the address to a house that is the only thing in the area. She puts the phone back down and makes a sharp U-turn causing Jasmine to curse loudly as she flies against the door. "Sorry." Adele mutters. "Where are we going?"

"They found where Elena is. Some old house and it's not that way, it's this way."

"Are you okay?" Jasmine asks after a moment of staring at Adele, who's completely focused on the road while running a hand over her forehead. "I'm worried. She better be okay."

"I figured which I why I wasn't talking about that. I'm talking about Damon." Ever since she got off the phone with him, she's been quiet and looked almost…sad.

"I…I just wish he could understand. And I can't make him understand, I would have to tell him the truth and…I can't do that. He would want to help and I can't have what happened to Tony, happen to him. I'm doing this to protect him and the others of course. He refuses to understand though. It's not like I want to leave…" She trails off.

"Him?" Jasmine whispers and Adele glances at her quickly. "Yeah."

The car is filled with silence once more until Adele breaks it. "We can't be together, even if I did stay because I'll still have them to deal with and they can't know anything about Damon or history will repeat itself. They wanted me and they knew it was because of Tony that I wouldn't go with them, that's why they killed him. They didn't kill him because he's a vampire and they trained or whatever to hunt them. They would've let him walk if they thought there was any chance I would be willing to hand myself over. Why they want me? I don't know; which is what I want to figure out and until I do, nothing can happen between Damon and I. Nothing."

~x~

Elijah is ready to kill the younger Salvatore, who had tackled him off the stairway after the Patrova Doppelganger through what had to be a vervain grenade at him. He was beyond pissed and nothing was going to stop him from ripping this pathetic vampires head off. That is until the front door opens.

He only glances back for a second, just to see who was interrupting the scene and he's taken back by the girl who steps into the room. He had seen his fair share of beautiful woman in his time, seeing how old he was but he had never seen anyone quite like her. Even as the door closes behind her and there left in the dark, she still glows, like the sun was still present. Her eyes fall straight to him and her eyes are so blue they seem to shine. It's his moment of surprise that is his downfall in this battle as the older Salvatore shoves the broken coat hanger into his chest and he can hear the doppelganger yelling out the name Adele and the beautiful girl running forward as he's backed up to the closed door.

Adele throws her arms around her sister as she reaches her halfway up the stairs. "Are you okay?" She breaths and Elena nods against her shoulder. "Thank god. I was worried." She pulls back and Elena smiles at her. "How did you know?"

"Bonnie called me; Jeremy gave me your location. I wasn't far away." Looking around Adele notices another woman who steps into the room before taking off in a blur and Damon makes a move to go after her until Elena tells him to leave her and he looks back up to them, his eyes falling on Adele.

Elena rushes down the stairs as Stefan stands and she throws herself into his arms. Adele to makes her way down the stairs to stand in front of Damon who looks her up and down, he had noticed the way Elijah was looking at her when she came rushing into the house. He didn't like it.

"You had no idea what you we're running into here and you did it anyways." She lets out a short laugh. "Of course I did. She's my sister Damon. Why do you think I want to leave so bad? Because I can't stand to watch the ones I love get hurt or end up dead."

Elena and Stefan join them and Adele looks away from Damon, up to Elena who is looking between the two. "I have something I need to tell you guys. Something that Rose told me."

~x~

Adele follows Elena up the stairs silently. Elena had asked if she could ride home with her and Adele had agreed and after having Jasmine ride home with the brothers, she had driven the both of them straight home. They had barely said anything on the way home, Adele was too lost in her own mind after hearing everything Elena had to tell them.

If everything this Rose had told Elena is true and seeing as she was handing Elena over to one of the "Originals" it must be, there was no possible way Adele was going to be able to leave; she had to help protect her sister. That was clear now.

As they reach the top of the stairs Jeremy and Bonnie are there to meet them. Bonne rushes forward to do exactly what Adele had done, by crushing Elena in a hug. "Are you okay?" Jeremy barley gets out and Elena nods. "I'm okay."

Elena pulls back to look at Bonnie. "I got your message." She says before they hug once again and when Bonnie moves off to the side, Jeremy takes her place and Adele weasels her way past them all, to go to her room. She's stop through, half way there by fingers wrapping themselves around her wrist.

Bonnie watched as the blonde Gilbert made her way by them all, and she was the only one who seemed to notice the haunted look in her blue eyes. For as long as Bonnie could remember, when something terrible happened to the Gilbert twins it had always been Elena who was asked first if she was okay, never Adele. And for the longest time Bonnie always figured it was because Adele was the tougher out of the two but as of lately Bonnie's been noticing things about Adele. Like every once in a while she'll get this far away look in her eyes or she'll just look so sad. There was something going on with her and Bonnie's been wondering if the girl really is okay as everyone seems to think she is.

Adele looks from the hand up to Bonnie. "Are _you_ okay?" Bonnie whispers softly and Adele blinks in surprise and she's even more surprised when she finds herself shaking her head. Bonnie lets go of her wrist with a frown and Adele sends her a half smile before turning back around and disappearing into her room.

~x~

After everyone had retired to their rooms for the night and Bonnie had gone home, Adele had left her room to go get something to drink real quick before going back up. She wanted nothing more than to change and crawl into bed for the night. She was tired, so very tired and she couldn't sort the thoughts running through her head. She flips on the light to her room.

"Cute Outfit." Jumping Adele looks up, her eyes wide as she looks over to Damon standing next to her window. Closing the door, Adele doesn't take her eyes from him. While Damon usually had an ounce of humor in his eyes at all times, tonight there was none.

She would be lying if she said she wasn't in the least bit worried about him being there, looking so completely serious. The last time he showed up in her room unannounced and this late at night with that same look in his amazing blue eyes, he had killed Jeremy. She figures she has right to worry. "I'm tired Damon. What are you doing here?" She didn't mean for the question to sound so rude, she really didn't but it was true, she was tired and after what happened tonight and at the Masquerade ball, she had a lot of thinking to do, not to mention she was still mad at him.

He's silent for a moment just watching her as if he wanted to remember every little detail about her, he wants to make a sarcastic remark anything to lighten the mood but there's no way to do that, not with what he's about to do. With a small and deep breath he pulls his hand from his pocket. "I brought you something." Her eyes rank over the silver locket he's dangling from his hand. It's…breathtaking. "What…"

"It was my mothers. After she died, my father was packing up her stuff and he was getting ready to get rid of it. I saw the locket sitting on my father's desk. I recognized it as my mother's because she wore it a lot. It was one of her most prized possessions. Besides clipped memories and an old photo…it's all I have left of her." He's staring down at the locket as he talks, his eyes so sad and vulnerable Adele doesn't know what to do.

Damon has never really talked about his mother, though Adele knows how much he loved her and how much it hurt him when she died. In her eyes Damon has always been strong, he barely ever let his walls down yet here he is stripped completely of all his walls, letting her finally see him, all of him and she feels…overwhelmed. "Damon…" She breaths and he finally looks up at her.

"I want you to have it; I need you to have it." He sounds broken, completely shattered and she can't understand why as he comes forward. He stops when he standing in front of her and he closes his eyes as if what he wants to say pains him.

"What I'm about to say…." His eyes open and Adele sucks in a breath, his eyes are glazed over with unshed tears. "Is probably the most selfish thing I've ever said in my life." Now she knows what it is that seems to be killing him inside. "Damon…" She whispers but he shakes his head cutting her off.

"Please…I have to say this." She presses her lips together, already feeling the tears filling her eyes as well and her chest tightens, she doesn't know if she can do this. "I love you Adele." She lets out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and it sounds harsh because even though she knew he was going to say it, it still knocks the wind out of her.

She wants to say something, anything but mostly that she loves him to but she can't. The words are stuck and she can't get them out. She's too surprised, she to awed but mostly she's too afraid. She's completely and utterly terrified.

He continues on. "And it's because I love you, that I can't be selfish with you." He had come to town with a goal in mind. To ruin his brother's life and get Katherine out of the tomb because he had loved her but Adele Gilbert had swept into his life like a tornado taking out everything he thought mattered and leaving him with the realization that it didn't. He thought he knew what love was, he thought he knew what it felt like to have a broken heart. He didn't, not until right now where he can feel his heart breaking with every word that slips past his lips. But he can't stop, this needs to be done, it's all true. He just can't be selfish when it comes to her. It's breaking his heart even more to see he's making her cry as a tear slips down one of her flushed cheeks.

"Your right…You have to leave. I have no right to ask you to stay because you will never get the life you deserve if you stay here…if you stay with me. I'm not good for you and I know that." He reaches up and runs his knuckles along her cheek, wiping at the tears but they keep coming. Adele had become his world, she had become the single thing that his world revolved around day after day and he knows he's about to tare it all apart but he's still willing to do it. For her, because it's what she needs.

"I don't deserve you." His voice has dropped to barely above a whisper and she closes her eyes tightly as he places the gentlest kiss to her lips, letting it linger a bit too long. He just wants to savor it. When he pulls away her eyes open again, more tears spilling as she watches a tear slip down his own cheek. "Man I wish you didn't have to forget this…" His pupils slowly dilate and he watches as her eyes fall blank and her features lose all emotion but the tears are still coming. If only she had been remembering to take her vervain, then this wouldn't work.

"But you do." He whispers letting her go and holding up the locket for her to see. "You will never take it off."

"I will never take it off." She repeats and like her features her voice is void of all emotion. He clasps the necklace around her neck easily. "Goodbye Adele." He slips something into her hand before he disappears and Adele blinks her eyes roaming the room. Reaching up, she runs her fingers over her damp cheek. She's crying. Why is she crying?

She might not know but she is and she can't stop. Feeling her hand clinched around something she opens it, frowning down at her sister's necklace. Where did that come from? Did she find it? Turning around she walks from the room, down the hall to her sister's room where she knocks on the door before walking in. Her sister is lying in bed, writing in her dairy when she looks up to see her and right away she sits up putting the diary to the side.

"What's wrong?" She whispers, she's never seen her sister look so confused and broken before. Holding up the necklace Adele lets it dangle. "My necklace. I thought I lost that." Adele shrugs a shoulder. "I guess I found it."

Elena stands from the bed and practically runs to where her sister is standing to hug her. It's all she can do, because Adele is upset and Elena has tears in her own eyes as Adele bares her head into her sister's neck and cries.

* * *

><p><strong>Preview for the next chapter: <strong>

_**Elena and Adele spent the day with Katherine. **_


	24. Chapter 24

**This chapter is more of a filler then anything, I hope you don't mind and I hope you enjoy. Just so you know, we've reached the end of the old version, everything after this chapter is going to be completely new. (: **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 24: Katharina<strong>

Elena pushes Adele's half closed bedroom door open lightly, just to find her sister staring at two long sleeved shirts, one red, the other white. "Which one?" Adele calls and Elena enters the room slowly. "White. Um…can you come with me to the boarding house? I know you and Damon are kind of on the outs right now but…" Adele stops her with a look as she slips the white top off of its hanger. "Stefan already texted me." She answers and Elena nods.

As her sister unbuttons the black button down she's wearing, that looks strangely like one of Damon's shirts, Elena takes the chance to look around, at the new photo editions to her sister's collection. She comes across one photo, of a man with blonde hair and doe eyes resting lazily on a queen size bed. "Is this him?"

Adele glances back only to see what she is referring to. "Mhm. His name was Tony." Elena studies the picture more closely. "He was cute." Elena says as she straightens up and Adele nods. "He was. He was a lot of other things as well."

"Including vampire?" She asks because she had had her suspensions but she couldn't be sure. Nobody would tell her. Adele turns away from her dresser mirror where she had been throwing her hair up into a messy pony tail to look at Elena fully now. "Yes including vampire. They we're all vampires. Expect for two of them. Jasmine and River we're witches."

"Adele, I'm sorry. It must be killing you." Adele shrugs a shoulder lightly and Elena notices how she reaches up to finger over the locket around her neck. Elena had never seen that locket before, she was wearing it last night but other than that, it must be new. "It was but I've been able to deal."

"How? God if Stefan died…I don't think I'd ever get past it." Adele leans back against her dresser, watching Elena live through a horrific event that hasn't happened. She sees her sister shiver before her brown eyes meet hers. "Remember when you told me that loving Damon was crazy?" Elena blinks at her in surprise. She's never heard her say it out loud before. "It's not so crazy after all."

~x~

Elena knocks a couple times on the door to the Salvatore Boarding house, waiting for someone to answer the door as Adele stands directly behind her, hoping that it's Stefan who answers but she's not that lucky as the door opens and standing there is Damon with that smirk as he looks them both over. "Hello Girls."

"Is Stefan here?" Elena asks casting her eyes to the ground. "He called and said it was important." Damon steps to the side slowly to let her through. "Right this way." She walks past him slowly, but before Adele has the chance to slip past him as well, he steps back into her path. "Please move." Adele mutters casting her eyes to the ground much like Elena had done.

"I'm sorry." She looks back up at him and he searches her face to make sure his compulsion last night had worked and as she looks away once again, he knows it had and he feels a slight ping of disappointment which is wrong because it's what he needed to do. "Can we…can we just get this over with?" He nods moving a side with a sigh. Because his compulsion worked all she knows is that they've been fighting and she's mad at him and obviously not in a forgiving mood.

As Adele rounds the corner she comes to a halt as she catches sight of the woman standing somewhat behind Stefan. She recognizes her as the woman who ran off when they had rescued Elena last night; she was one of Elena's kidnappers. "You have got to be kidding me." Adele snaps and Stefan sends her a reassuring smile.

~x~

"Okay, you have to understand I only know what I picked up over the years and I don't know what's true and what's not true. That's the problem with all this vampire crap but Klaus I know is real." Rose explains to them as she paces. Adele is sitting next to Elena on the couch, her legs crossed beneath her and her hands resting in her lap.

"Who is he?" Asks Elena as she looks between everyone in the room.

"He's one of the originals. He's a legend." Damon answers and Stefan nods. "From the first generation of vampires." He adds to give them more insight on the guy known as Klaus.

"Like Elijah?" Elena looks back to Rose.

"No." She says like it's supposed to be the most obvious thing in the world. "Elijah was the east of any compared to Klaus. He's a foot soldier, Klaus is the real deal."

"Klaus is known to be the oldest." Stefan adds once again.

Adele finally decides to speak up. "So let me get this straight. The oldest vampire in the history of ever is coming after Elena?" Stefan says a quick no but Rose says yes causing Adele to glare at them. "Well which on is it? Yes or no?" She snaps and Damon sighs looking down at her from behind the chair. "What their saying is, I mean if what she's saying is true…"

"Which it is." Rose cuts in and Damon looks at her.

"And you not just saying this so we don't kill you."

"Which I'm not."

"Then we're looking at a solid…maybe." Adele raises an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah, well that's really reassuring, thank you." Sarcasm drips heavily from every word the blonde is spitting out at him and Damon can't help but roll his eyes. He was going to have to gravel a whole lot to get her to forgive him for being such a…dick as she so kindly put it yesterday.

"Elijah's dead right?" Stefan stands, seeing as he can sense the tension coming from Elena as she sits beside her sister who is glaring between Damon and Rose. "So no one knows you exist."

"That we know of." Rose interjects and Adele's glare turns fully on her. "Seriously, what makes you think that helps at all?" Rose glares back at the blonde and before a fight can break out between the two girls, Stefan speaks up again. "I've never even met anyone who's laid eyes on him. I mean we're talking centuries of truth mixed with fiction. I mean we don't know what's real, for all we know he could just be some stupid bedtime story."

"He's real!" Rose exclaims. "And he doesn't give up. If he wants something he gets it. If you're not afraid of Klaus then you are an idiot."

Suddenly Adele stands annoyance and frustration clear on her face. "Okay that's it. We're done here. Elena lets go."

"I'm just trying to warn you guys." Rose justifies and Adele turns back to look at her. Damon closes his eyes briefly. He can tell the blonde is in a mood and when she's in a mood like the one she's in now, it's better to just shut up and go with what she says she's doing but Rose has known her for all of three seconds, so of course she wouldn't know that. Well she was about to find out.

"Oh yes, because what I've learned today is, he's real, but then again maybe not. He's coming after her. No he's not, well then again maybe he is. He's just a made up story, oh wait…no. He's not. Do me a favor and next time you want to warn us about something, make sure you have your facts straight." Adele grabs a hold of Elena's wrist and pulls her a long behind her, but Elena doesn't protest. She's actually glad to be leaving the house now that they have successfully freaked her out.

~x~

There silent for half the ride before Elena finally speaks up. "I have a plan." Adele glances at her for a split second. "Am I going to like this plan?"

"It doesn't matter if you like it or not, as of this moment on, you're my partner in crime."

"And I'm guessing crime means literally in the sense of Stefan and Damon." Elena nods at her and Adele sighs as dramatically as she can.

"What is this plan?"

As Elena explains to her, the plan she's come up with since leaving the boarding house Adele finds herself smirking. "It's diabolical and I love it. I'm proud of you Elena." Elena laughs.

"I'm the one who came up with it, you're the one who's going to make it happen."

"But you still came up with it, all by your lone some." Adele picks up her phone from the cup holder, dialing a number quickly.

"Caroline, Elena and I need your help."

~x~

Adele opens the trunk of her car and pulls forward her chest. Elena watches as she punches in a code real quick and the chest pops open revealing to them many wooden stakes, Vervain shots, Vervain alone, and Adele's gun. "This was just precautionary stuff I kept in Florida. Not my idea, Tony's. Though he was a rather laid back guy, he had some enemies. He wanted to make sure I was prepared at all cost." Adele explains as she checks to see how many bullets she had left in her gun.

Elena is stunned as she watches her sister reload the gun before sticking it into the waist band of her shorts at the back. "Is that safe?" Elena asks eyeing the now covered gun. "Of course, the safety's on." Adele pulls out two stakes handing one to Elena who looks at it funny. "We're about to go interrogate a 500 and something year old vampire who wants nothing more than to see us both dead." Adele explains.

"She can't get out."

"But on the off chance that something goes terribly wrong and she does get out which if I can point out something usually does go terribly wrong, do you want to take that chance?" Elena sighs tightening her grip on the stake. "Exactly." Adele smirks at her.

"Okay. I got the stuff." Both girls look up to Caroline who appears next to the car carrying a large bag with her. "Great." Adele says as she closes the chest and then the trunk before taking the bag from Caroline who hands it over willingly. "Let's do this."

"I can't believe I'm agreeing to this." Caroline says after a few moments of just following after Adele and Elena further into the woods and closer to the old church grounds. "I'm a terrible liar." She calls to the two who ignore the comment completely. "And keep Stefan busy. I don't want him knowing what were up to."

"I'm even worse at duplicity." She exclaims making Adele laugh.

"You managed to keep me occupied when Katherine paid Stefan a visit." Elena mentions and Caroline throws her arms up.

"Yeah cause she threated me." Adele sends a glance back Caroline. "Not that I'm saying you should use that as a tactic, it's just…Stefan is going to see right through me." Adele stops turning to face the other blonde.

"Caroline. As my best friend…do you promise?" Caroline looks at her for a moment before sighing. "You had to break out the girlfriend code." Adele smirks because she knows that she had her as Caroline looks away. "Okay. I promise."

~x~

Caroline lifts up the large stone in the way of the opening to the tomb and places it to the side as Adele slams the bag onto the ground. "Katherine?" Elena calls out, her voice clear but her eyes worried. She turns back to Caroline. "We'll be okay from here." She assures as Adele steps forward to gaze into the dark tomb. "Hey Bitch! You there?"

Elena's eyes snap back over to Adele as well as Caroline's and they both stare at her wide eyed. It isn't long till they hear the shuffling of feet against the packed dirt in the tomb and Elena's eyes move from Adele to the tomb where Katherine appears slowly. Her dress from the ball was now dirty and wrinkled, her hair looked dry and lifeless and her complexion has a slight grey tint to it. She has dark circles under her dark eyes, which are filled with hunger as she regards the three girls standing on the other side of the tomb, the free side.

"Well don't you look positively hungry." Adele smirks, she wants so bad to laugh at the sight before her. Here is this violent and manipulative vampire, who always gets her way looking ready to kill over at any second.

"Hello Elena…Adele." She greets and her voice is thick with not only starvation but lack of company as well. "Come to watch me wither away? Goodbye Caroline."

Adele takes a moment to gaze back at Caroline. "We're safe. Don't worry. I'll call you later and tell you everything." Caroline looks at her for a moment before looking back to Katherine and nodding. While she's worried about her friends, she's still terrified of Katherine making it so she doesn't want to be anywhere near the vampire, so she's going to take Adele's word.

Once she's gone, Adele turns back to Katherine as Elena takes to rummaging through the bag. "Stefan know you're here?" She asks Elena but before Elena can say anything she turns her dark eyes to Adele. "What about Damon? How mad would he be to know you're down here putting yourself in danger? Such the protector he is."

"Don't talk about Damon. You have no right." Adele snaps causing Katherine to smirk as Elena stands back up with a pile of blankets and a change of clothes in her hands, through Adele is fairly positive Katherine won't use the clothes. "We brought you some things." She says causing Katherine's smirk to turn into a scowl. "You came to bribe me, what is it that you want?"

"I want you to tell me about Klaus."

Katherine's smirk is back. "Hmm. You've been busy."

"We also brought you this…" Elena digs back into the bag and pulls out the History book of the Petrova line. "It's your family history. It says in here that the family line ended with you…obviously that's not true."

"You thought that if you brought me some family keepsake that I'd open up?" Katherine all but snaps and Adele rolls her eyes.

"No of course not, what do take us for?" She mutters walking over to the bag and shoving her hand in. She pulls it back out and clinched in it, is a clear water bottle filled with a crimson liquid that has Katherine fighting against the invisible wall of the tomb as Adele holds it up.

"You don't look so good. How long before your body shuts down? 10, 20 years? It must be painful to desiccate and mummify. I can't even imagine." Elena mocks and Katherine glares at the twins but she soon slumps against the stone wall in defeat, sliding down to sit upon the packed dirt.

Adele unscrews the cap quickly, taking the clear plastic cup from the bag and pouring just a small amount into it before moving forward to give her the cup. "Wait." Adele stops to gaze back at Elena. "She could grab you." Adele scoffs turning her eyes back to Katherine who is glaring up at her. "She's old enough to know how stupid of a move that would be." Elena's about to protest some more but she's stopped as Adele bends to give her the cup and her shirt rides up, flashing her gun to Elena. She's probably right.

Katherine takes the cup from Adele slowly her eyes never leaving her. "You…have the Petrova fire." Adele only raises an eyebrow as a response to her comment.

~x~

Michael's mind is foggy, with sleep wanting desperately to take over but it's frowned upon to fall asleep in AP Calculus. He has no idea why he even agreed to sign up for AP Calculus. All his classes are screwed up this year, at least according to him.

But AP Calculus is all thanks to Adele, she had talked him into taking it with her not that she's ever really in class anyways and yet she still manages to pull off A's while he's settling with a B that's very close to being a C. He's close to calling her out, because she's hiding something and it's obviously something big that she doesn't want him to know. Maybe instead of asking Adele he should just ask Jasmine about it because Jasmine knows. There's no way that Jasmine doesn't know and it'll be easier to get it out of her then Adele.

He lifts his head from his desk, feeling the vibration of his phone in his pocket. Taking his cell from his pocket, he fully expects it to be a random text but to his surprise –and rush of panic– he sees it's not a random text but his sister calling.

"Michael, we have a no cell phones policy in class." Glancing up for only a second, he sees his teacher standing above him. He looks back down at the phone. There's no way he can ignore this. His sister knows he has school. There has to be a reason she's calling him. "I uh…I really have to answer this." He doesn't give his teacher the time to protest before he stands up to rush from the classroom. It's not like he would have listened to her if she told him he couldn't anyways.

Out in the empty hallway, he answers the phone quickly. "Lion…is everything okay?" His voice is hesitant, worried for her answer. "No everything is not okay!" The 13 year old exclaims; her voice cracks and sounds a bit nasally like she's been sick which causes Michael's frown to deepen. "I hate it here! I hate it here so much!" He comes to the conclusion she's not sick, she's crying.

"What happened?"

"Everyone hates me and I don't know why, they make fun of me." He takes to leaning against a locker, crossing his feet and closing his eyes.

"What do they have to make fun of you about?"

"They make fun of me because according to them I don't have any family accept for Aunt Mary and we both know how she is; she's one step away from being a full blown drunk. They make fun of me because I don't have the nicest stuff. I feel like I'm still in freaking 1st grade Michael, they don't know how to grow up! I want to go stay with you."

This issue has been an on-going argument between the two siblings ever since Jackie Landon turned 12. All she's wanted was to come and live with him and he can't allow her that, because he's not her legal guardian, he's only her brother.

"Jackie you know I would love for you to come and live with me but you can't. Mary is your legal guardian."

"But you 18 now; Isn't there a way for you to become my legal guardian?"

"I'm still in school; there is no way a judge is going to let me care for you when I can barely care for myself. Wither you like it or not Lion you have to stay there; it's the best option for you." He listens to the sound of her wiping her eyes –most likely on her sleeve– before she responses to him.

"I know, I just hate it here and I miss you." He hates when she does this. It makes him feel like he's been a bad brother to her in every way possible although he's just looking out for her best interest. He needs her safe and taken care of and she might be safe with him but there is no telling how he could pull off having to take care of the both off them.

"I miss you too. Just hang in there and I promise, this summer you can come stay with me for a couple weeks."

"Okay." Jackie whispers and he sighs running a hand through his untamed hair.

"And if you need any advice on how to take care of the bullies without getting into too much trouble, call Adele. I'm sure she can give you a few pointers in that department." This makes Jackie laugh. Adele had become somewhat of a sister to Jackie and she trusted the girl 100 percent. If there was anyone who could help her get rid of a couple bullies it would be her.

"I got to get back to class okay?"

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you too. I'll talk to you later Lion."

"Alright. Bye Tiger."

Hanging up the phone, he runs a hand down his chin the stubble lining it pricking his fingers as he does. Pushing up from the lockers, he makes his way back into the class. He's confident that his sister will be okay for the rest of the day now that's she's talked to him. Sometimes that's all it took with her.

As he's making his way back to his desk –with all eyes on him of course– the teacher holds out her hand and in it is a small piece of paper. A detention slip it would seem. "What is this?" He asks taking it from her to look at it. "A detention slip, you want to walk out of my class to talk on the phone; that is what you get."

He takes a single moment to close his eyes and sigh before looking down at the short middle aged women. "There's no way I can do this. I have to go to work directly after school, I have no time to sit in an empty class room for an hour and do nothing."

"I guess you should've that about that before."

Teachers always had a way of getting under Michael's skin, while all of them knew of his situation and he doesn't _like_ the special treatment some of them give him but he takes it because without it he wouldn't be able maneuver around school and working two jobs in the town over but then there's teachers like this one who's goal is to make everything difficult for him. While he could usual call work and say he's going to be late, he's done that 3 times in that last two weeks. If he's not careful there going to fire him.

"I can't do this today. Tomorrow fine but there's no way I can do it today."

"If you don't do it today, I'll have no choice but to send you to the office." Michael stares at her for a minute before shrugging a shoulder and turning to shove his notebook into his backpack. "What are you doing?"

"I'm packing my stuff. You're going to send me to the office right?" The teacher mouth opens as if she's going to say something before closing. She's not sure what to say, a threat to the office has always done the trick when kids wouldn't listen. "Look, I'd rather be suspended for a day than lose my job. Like you I have bills to pay and a sister to worry about, I don't have the patients to be playing your pointless game of dominance, I'm not going to do the detention so you can either deal with it or I'm more than happy to go down to the office."

~x~

Adele had taken to sitting cross legged against the stone wall next to the opening of the tomb. She figured this was going to be a long story and might as well be comfortable while she listens.

"It's a long story, Klaus and I." Katharine finally begins after gulping down another small amount of blood. "It goes all the way back to England 1492, after I left Bulgaria or…I was thrown out." Elena waits till she's finished sucking down her next small amount of blood before speaking. "Thrown out?"

"My family –your true ancestors– they disowned me. My indiscretions we're not tolerated at that time. I had a baby out of wedlock, the shame."

"And obviously it was kept secret." Adele mentions and Katherine nods. "My baby was given away and I was banished to England and I had to learn to adjust, so I quickly became English. It was there that I caught the eye of a noble man named Klaus. I was taken with him at first, till I found out what he was and what he wanted from me and then I ran like hell."

_She's running as fast as the heavy dress she's wearing will let her. Though every part of her burning body is telling her to stop running her mind is telling her to keep going even if she has no idea where she's running to, at this point anywhere that will keep her as far away from Klaus and his brother Elijah –who is the one she's running from at this moment– is better than sitting here. _

_Her dress is proving difficult, snagging on roots and threating to trip her. She's so focused on keeping her dress from tripping her and making sure there's no one behind her, that she doesn't notice the root and her foot slips under it, causing her to tumble to the ground hard, her head bouncing off the packed dirt and small twig slices a cut across her cheek blood flowing from it freely._

_Knowing she has no time to get up and continue running, she pulls herself over to the nearest tree, lucky to have a pile of leafs and twigs long and tall enough to shield her from view. _

_Her adrenaline is slowly subsiding, bringing her emotions of fear and panic to the surface as she hears the crunch of leafs under boots. "Katharina! I know you're near! I can smell your blood." The last part is obviously not meant to be heard, but she hears it anyways and it brings to her attention the cut on her cheek having barely felt it when it happened but now it stings and she can feel the blood rolling down her face._

"_It's pointless to run! Klaus will find you wherever you are!" She hears the rush of the wind indicating another Vampire arriving on the scene. "Over there. There's more blood over there." She recognizes the settle deep voice as Trevor, a vampire who works for Klaus, someone she thought she'd done a very good job of charming. _

_After a few more moments of lying there, she realizes there gone and she pushes herself up using the tree as leverage to keep her from falling back down, her legs are shaky as she leans back against the tree, surveying the area to make sure she's free to make a run for it. _

_Shooting forward she almost screams when she runs into Trevor who pushes her back into the tree with a hand over her mouth. Taking a look around him, he takes his hand away. "Head east. I can't keep them astray much longer." _

"_I can't run anymore." She breaths out and it's true, her lungs and body burn and all she wants to do is sit down and not move ever again but she's not willing to die. _

"_Never mind, there's a cottage. You'll be safe there." He assures and she nods showing him she understands. "Go now." He pushes her aside and forward. "Now!" She takes off leaving him behind to watch her go. _

"So what did Klaus want?" Elena asks pacing around in front of the tomb door.

"Same thing he'll want from you. He wants to break the curse."

Adele turns her head, to give a sideways glance to Katherine. "By sacrificing the Petrova doppelganger." It's more of a statement rather than a question but Katherine nods anyways. "He wanted to drain every drop of blood from my body."

To distract herself from that little piece of information –at least for the time being– she pours a little bit more blood into the small clear cup, handing it to the vampire who takes it eagerly. "What does the Petrova blood line have to do with Klaus?"

"It's really tedious but…" At this point Elena has taken a seat across from Adele and Katherine downs the blood, crushing the cup in the process before continuing on. "The curse was bound by the sacrifice of Petrova blood. Witches are crafty with their spells. The doppelganger was created as a way to undo the spell, once a doppelganger appeared the curse could be broken."

"So you ran before he could kill you?" Elena asks and Katherine shrugs. "Something like that."

_She ran east of course, and she was left running for a few moments before stopping and taking a look around. If she hadn't been looking for it, she wouldn't have spotted it, the cottage blended in so well with its surroundings. Running to the left, she has to spot herself from slamming into the door as she immediately begins hitting her hand against it and calling for someone to help her. _

_The door cracks open revealing an old frail looking woman who regards to with cold detached eyes. "Please help me." _

"_I don't invite strangers into my home." The woman goes to close the door but her hand shoots out stopping it and pushing it back open. "No, Trevor he said that you'd help me." _

"_Damn him!" She steps back, surprised at the new voice. "Always making promises that I don't want to keep." A woman who couldn't be much older than herself and incredibly beautiful steps into view and whatever she was going to say is lost as she gets a good look at her. "Let the girl in." She instructs the old woman who nods slightly opening the door wider and she rushes in and out of the humid air. "Get her water and something to eat." She compels the woman who nods again before leaving them alone in the small cottage. _

_The woman turns to study her again slowly. "Thank you. Trevor said to show you this, to prove I am who I say, that you would help me to freedom." She holds up an oval shaped rock, that's texture is smooth and color if misty. The moonstone. _

"_You stole this from Klaus?" The woman's eyes are wide in disbelief and something along the lines of panic. Suddenly she feels it wasn't such a good idea to come here. "It was to be part of the sacrifice, so I grab it and made my escape." _

"_People do not escape from Klaus. Anyone who tries ends up back in his grasps and anyone who helps them dies." _

"_I know the risk you bring on yourself by giving me aid." _

"_I'm risking nothing." The woman shoots forward grabbing her by the arm in a vice like grip and pulling her to her feet. "At nightfall I will bring you back to Klaus and beg him to show us both mercy." She fights but it's no use again the woman who is obviously a vampire with her strength as she pushes her into a room and slams the door locking it from the outside. _

~x~

He shuffles a yawn as he sends a text back to Jasmine in response her question about cleaning the kitchen. He told her to have a ball not that she would have to do much seeing as he tried to keep it clean for the most part anyways.

Snapping his black eyes up to Tyler Lockwood as the boy slides down to sit across from him at the picnic table, he frowns. "Something wrong?" There was a scowl on his friend's face that would suggest there is but Tyler just shakes off the question. "I heard you got sent to the principles for refusing a detention and telling off your teacher."

His eyes roll, of course word would get around that he in so many words told off his teacher, though he doesn't see it that way. All he did was respectfully decline something he couldn't do. "I have to work after school; I can't be serving detention and paying my rent at the same time."

"Obviously you weren't suspended so what happened?"

"The principle knows my situation; he's allowing me to serve the detention tomorrow which is what I told my teacher I would do anyways." His phone buzzes on the table and before he can pick it up Tyler notices the name and the picture that's flashing. "Jasmine? As in Adele's friend Jasmine?"

"That would be the one. She's staying with me."

Tyler sends a smirk his way replacing his earlier scowl. "Well she's cute."

"Yes she is, and she's sweet and funny…" He trails of causing Tyler to laugh. "I know that face. That's the same face you had when you told me you we're going to ask Adele out. You like her." Tyler teases and he fully expects Michael to deny it but surprising them both he doesn't. "Yeah I do but it's not like I can do anything about it. At least not right now."

"And why the hell not? If this is about Adele, dude she's moved on." Michael glares slightly and Tyler shrugs at him, he's not saying anything that isn't true.

"It's not about Adele…She's hiding something. Actually they both are, I don't know if you've noticed how MIA Adele has been lately and I really don't have to remind you how important school is or was to her, now she's just totally blowing it off? I don't think so Ty, something is going on. She's avoids certain topics around me, even if she thinks she is she's not doing a very good job of hiding the fact that she doesn't want me to know something and Jasmine is no better. She knows what it is and she's not talking."

Tyler doesn't say anything to this, he just lets Michael go back to texting Jasmine because with everything going on with him and finding out what Caroline is, he hadn't even given a thought that his best friend might have known the whole time what Caroline was and if she knows what Caroline is, does she know about him and his uncle? He thinks it's about time; he has a little talk with his so called best friend.

~x~

"Rose never ended up taking you back to Klaus did she?" Elena asks and Katherine only stares at her for a moment before shaking her head. "No but not because she had a change of heart."

_It had to be a few hours later when the doors again and Rose walks in with a rope in her hand. "It's nightfall. Time to go." She throws the rope onto the bed as she rounds to her side and freezes for only a second as she takes a whiff of the air around them. She leans forward yanking her hand away from an open wound that is bleeding freely. "When did this happen?" _

"_In the woods, I tripped." _

"_That's a lie. I would have smelt it." Rose ruffles through the blankets bundled up on the bed and find a silver knife. _

"_I'd rather die than go back to Klaus, please just let me die." _

"_If you die Trevor dies with you," Proving her loyalty to her friend even more Rose brings her wrist up biting into the flesh before forcing the bleeding wound onto her and though she tries to fight it, she can't and some of the blood seeps into her mouth and down her throat. _

_She's stunned as she feels her wounds healing and it's then that Trevor burst through the door. "Where is she?" Rose attacks him, pushing him from the room and into a wall. "You've set us both on a path to death! I only hope Klaus see's the honor in returning that girl to him." As she listens to them talk she grips the rope that lay abandon on the bed in her hand, an idea coming to her. _

"_He will sacrifice her." _

"_Then so be it!" _

"_I love her Rose." Her eyes soften and her expression turns sorrowful. _

"_He'll kill you. He won't stop until he has all of our heads." Trevor shrugs a shoulder. "Then we shall run until we die." A crash from the back room catches their attention and they run into the room gasping at the sight. The stupid girl has hung herself. _

"You killed yourself?" Elena exclaims and though she sounds shocked Adele isn't. This is Katherine there talking to after all.

"Klaus needed a human doppelganger. As a vampire I was no longer any use to him."

"But it didn't work. You didn't really escape, you've been running from Klaus ever since." Elena points out causing Katherine to roll her eyes. "I underestimated his spirit for vengeance but leaving out of a suitcase is better than dying so you can have your blood spilled over some silly little rock." Elena suddenly looks away, her eyes narrowed. "What's wrong? Afraid I'm right?" Elena runs a hand through her hair, obviously in distress and Adele has the urge to hug her but hold back.

"You don't want to die? There's another way out." Katherine slices a small cut into her wrist where blood swells slowly. "You better hurry. Your opportunity is going…" The small wound starts to heal. "Going…gone." The small scratch is now completely healed and Katherine smirks over to Elena who is glaring at Adele who scoffs. "I made the other choice."

_With a gasps of breath her eyes fly open and she lets out a small cough rolling over slightly. "What did you do Katharina? I would have helped you live." She slowly pushes her way off the bed, clinching to her head which feels heavy. "You would have helped me run. That was never going to be enough." _

_She staggers to the other side of the room to lean a hand against the wall. "It was enough for me." Her eyes lift from the floor to look up at him and before she has to say anything Rose appears with a scoff. "Don't you see Trevor? She used you to help her escape and me to turn her. Klaus will see our role in this." _

_She pushes off the wall stepping forward. "And for that I'm sorry." It sounds sincere but it's not enough for Rose. "As am I. For this." From behind her Rose produces a stake and rushes forward to which she pushes the old lady sweeping in front her and the stake plunges deep into her shoulder and with a pain filled scream from the woman she yanks it out and Rose backs away with wide eyes as she bites into the wound. _

_Pulling back she looks up at them. "Please understand." Rose shakes her head. "You've just signed our death sentence." _

"_Better you die then I." She pushes the woman away, into them and disappears before they have a chance to do anything to stop her. _

"Rose and Trevor spent the last 500 years running because you used them. Trevor just got killed!" Adele shakes her head at Elena. There was no point in trying to make the vampire feel bad. It wasn't going to work and just to prove it Katherine responses, "Never thought he would have lasted that long."

"You don't even care that you ruined their lives." Katherine stops flipping through the book in her lap to look up at Elena. "I was looking out for myself Elena. I will always look out for myself. If you're smart you'll do the same." Adele pushes herself from the ground stalking a head before turning back. "How much of your little story is true?"

"I have no reason to lie Adele. I have no reason to do anything but sit here and read and rot."

"Okay so assuming that it's partially true, that's the reason you came back here isn't it? Because you wanted to be the one to hand her over to Klaus." Katherine slams the book shut and pushes from the ground as well, with more strength then she had before.

"500 years on the run, I thought maybe he'd be willing to strike a deal."

"So you got Mason Lockwood to find you the moon stone?" Katherine nods.

"Right again."

"What else is needed to break the curse?" Elena stands as well, watching her sister get answers that they need from the vampire. "I mean it's not just Elena or the stone is it? Otherwise there would be no reason to trigger Tyler's werewolf curse…thanks for that by the way." Sarcasm drips from her voice and Katherine only smirks. "Witches and there spells, so many ingredients, so many people to sacrifice."

Adele ignores that comment and continues. "So you need a werewolf."

"Believe it or not there hard to come by."

"What else?" Adele snaps.

"A witch to do the spell, mine bailed Bonnie will do just fine." Adele shakes her head. "What else?" She snaps again stepping forward and Katherine can sense the change in her mood. She's getting very…mad. "A Vampire." Adele's jaw clenches and unclenches. "Caroline."

"A shocking revelation? It was supposed to be you, but Damon had to go and fall in love making everything difficult. He has a way of doing that and I figured even if I get Klaus off my back, I do not want Damon chasing after me next."

"So you we're just going to hand us all over to die?" Elena asks next seeing as Adele had taken to just glaring. Katherine turns to her and with a small almost unnoticeable smirk she starts to back away. "Better you die then I."

Elena is staring at the opening as Adele moves around her, picking up the bottle of blood and the now empty bag. "Let's go." She mutters and Elena nods slowly but doesn't turn around. Though Adele does turn and her eyes widen slightly. "Busted." She mutters causing Elena to spin around. "Stefan! What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you two the same thing." He says stepping up to them. "Caroline told you." Adele says but Stefan shakes his head. "No she kept your secret but it didn't take me long to figure out what was so important that you had to keep it from me."

"We knew that you'd stop us." Elena reasons softly.

"Listen to me, whatever she said to you, is a lie. Do not listen to her. She is a liar." Adele throws her hands up. "Stefan what if she's not? You didn't hear what she said." Her frustration over the whole situation is evident in her voice and Stefan shakes his head stepping towards her. "You don't have to worry; I'm not going to let anything happen to her."

"That's the problem you won't, but you'll die trying. How is that any better?" Elena snaps and all three have failed to notice Katherine is back watching all of them.

"There's nothing you can do Stefan." All three of them whip around to look at Katherine whose smirk hasn't fallen. "I haven't even told you the best part of the story." Katherine explains to them that after turning she had returned home to see her family but when she had arrived she found them all dead. "He killed them, my entire family. Just to get back at me for running. Whatever you do to escape Klaus, he will get his vengeance on your friends your family anyone you've ever loved."

Stefan turns them both away from looking at her. "No listen to me. Do not listen to her." He tells them softly and it causes Katherine to laugh. "Always the protector but even you must realize that she's doomed and as for you…" Katherine's eyes turn on Adele. "I'd get as far away from Mystic Falls and Elena as possible; the sooner the better because there is nothing you can do to stop it. Unless of course, you have this…" And slowly she raises her hand, showing them the moonstone.

"There it is! The ultimate lie, you spun this whole thing so we would have to get the stone from you, didn't you?" Katherine clenches the moonstone in her hand. "I didn't spin anything Stefan. It's the truth."

"No let me guess, you want to trade that stone for your freedom. You manipulative and psychotic bitch."

"My freedom? That's where you're wrong Stefan, I don't want my freedom because when Klaus shows up to kill us all and he will, I'll be in the tomb where no vampire will enter because they can't get out. I'll be the safest psychotic bitch in town." It's with that, that she turns around and disappears back into the tomb leaving them all the relation that oh my god, she's not lying. Everything she told them is completely true.

~x~

She has no idea why she's here; she didn't even realize this is where she was going when she took off leaving Elena with Stefan. She throws the car into park staring up at the boarding house. Maybe it was the strong urge to see Damon. She might be mad at him but he was the one person she went to when things that got hard. He was there when she needed someone and she feels like she needs someone.

She just spent the day figuring out that almost everyone she's loved is in danger. Elena, Caroline, Tyler and even Bonnie were in danger of being sacrificed for a werewolf curse. Without realizing it, her hand had gone up to grasps the heart of the silver locket around her neck.

Swinging open the door she steps out of the car and her phone rings. Sighing she pulls it from her pocket and looks at the name. Tyler. Taking a deep breath to control her whirlwind of emotions she answers the phone. "Hey Ty…what's up?"

"We need to talk, like really, _really_ need to talk." He sounds a little too serious for her liking. Tyler rarely ever did serious so she nods slowly. "Okay Ty. About what?"

"Just come over."

"I have to do one thing, I'll be over soon." She hangs up and begins towards the house. As she's coming up the steps her phone rings again and she sighs stopping just in front of the door. Looking down at the phone, her expression loses all emotion and her eyes narrow. It's a blocked number.

Suddenly she looks back up to the door and all thoughts of wanting to see Damon are still there but there's the nagging thought of his safety. She strips him of it every time she went running to him. There watching her and she knows it yet she keeps going to him and that alone puts him in danger and the only way to get him out of danger is to face them. Turning around she leaves the porch, all the while answering her still ringing phone.

"Hello?"

"Miss. Gilbert, it's nice of you to finally answer."

She sends one last glance at the boarding house, she wants to hang up the phone and go running into the house but she can't. It's not possible, at least not right now. She swings open her car door. "Hello James. I think it's about time we have a talk."

* * *

><p><strong>Review please. (: <strong>


	25. Chapter 25

**I'm a little surprised at how fast I finished this. Not much actually happens in this chapter, so that might be one reason I finished it rather quickly and it's also not one of my better chapters but I still hope you enjoy. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing my OC's. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 25: The Sacrifice <strong>

_Last night – _

_Her fingers run through her hair once again, tugging harshly to free her fingers when they get stuck on knots and even though it hurts slightly she welcomes the pain anything to distract her from his stare. _

"_Adele…tell me what you know." _

"_Tyler…" _

"_Adele please!" _

"_What do you know?" Tyler is about to demand she talk again but stops realizing she had asked him a question instead. "What?" _

"_What do you know? Because I can't just go blurting out peoples secrets here." He stares at his best friend pacing in front of him. She had shown up 15 minutes after he called and right away he jumped into finding out exactly what she's been hiding from him for so long but so far he hasn't gotten anywhere. _

"_I know that Caroline is a…vampire." He seems to choke on the word and she stops frowning up at him but he continues. "And I'm a werewolf, I know I didn't tell you about the curse and I know I didn't tell you I accidentally activated it but I know you know whether I told you or not." _

_She takes a deep breath. "Yeah I do know and I know that Caroline is a vampire but Tyler I didn't tell you because it wasn't my secret to tell." _

"_Is she really the only one?" _

_Adele's eyes rank over him slowly. "Is that what she told you?"_

_He nods. "But it's not true is it?" _

"_Once again, not my secret to tell. What brought this on Ty? Why call me out now?" _

"_Michael…" Adele blue eyes widen slightly. "He suspects you and Jasmine are hiding something, he told me this at lunch and it just got me thinking…" Adele's mind is now reeling, how could she be so careless? Of course Michael would notice something is up with her for heaven's sake she dated the guy for 3 years, there practically in sync with each other! _

"_He doesn't know anything right? He was completely clueless?" Tyler nods and she lets out a small breath but it doesn't calm her down. She's going to need to be extra careful now… _

"_How are you holding up Ty?" She asks in a way to distract herself from her thoughts but also because she's been worried about him. "I killed someone Adele and now I have this curse and I don't even know what to expect from it…I just…I don't even know." Adele nods stepping forward to embrace him. "It's understandable Tyler, but just know that I'm here for you okay? I'm going to be by your side the whole time." He nods against her shoulder, holding her tightly against him her presences as comforting as it has always been and she can only hope that what she just said is true. _

~x~

Her eyes pop open and out of reflex she sits up reaching into the drawer of her bedside table to grab her gun before shoving her comforter off her legs and sliding out of the bed. Being the light sleeper that she is, she had heard the bang from downstairs. It sounded like someone was in the house.

She makes her way into the hall way, her hands gripping tightly to the handle of the gun as she flips the safety off and positions her finger at the trigger, swinging around the door frame to face her sister. "Did you hear that too?" Elena whispers and Adele nods her head towards Jeremy's room. Elena nods at her ignoring the gun in her sister's hands, they might actually need it. Together the twins move to Jeremy's half closed bedroom door.

Elena steps away from Adele to peek into the room, a noise coming from the stairs startles them both and they swing around, Adele raising the gun as she does and her finger threatening to pull the trigger in a moment of blinding fright.

"Holy shit!" Alaric exclaims his grip on the cereal bowl in his hands tightening and with his heart racing and his eyes wide he stares into the barrel of the gun point at him, fear freezing him the spot he's standing not allowing him to move even a finger. He had never before been held at gun point and he sure as hell did not expect the first time he is that his girlfriend's teenage niece would be the one holding the gun.

Adele noticing who it is she's staring at, drops the gun to her side. "What the hell dude? You don't sneak up on a girl like that! I almost shot you!"

"Well most girls I sneak up on don't pull a gun on me!" He responses in a huff, now that the gun isn't pointed at him his heart rate is slowing down and his grip on the bowl loosens, he's able to move his fingers again.

"Since when am I most girls?" Adele asks

"Touché." He nods.

It's then that Jenna shows up beside Alaric a guilty look plastered on her face as she regards both her nieces. "That was us…" Her eyes fall to Adele's side. "Is that a gun?" Moving her hand slightly so the gun is behind her bare leg Adele sends her aunt a smile. "No."

Jenna narrows her eyes at Adele but lets it go. "I'm sorry."

"We didn't think anyone was up." Alaric speaks up on their behalf and Jenna nods.

"But here you guys are and here we are…" In all the hype Adele had failed to notice that Alaric was half naked and it would seem the only thing Jenna had on was Alaric's button up. Alaric seemed to notice this as well, moving the bowl down as if it would help cover him up.

"We we're just…um…Chunky Monkey?" Alaric holds the bowl out to them and Adele breaks out in a laugh. "Way to make an already awkward situation even more awkward Ric."

He brings the bowl back to him with a shake of his head and a small smile. "Well I'm naked…so I'm going to go." Adele nods at him as he passes them quickly and disappears into the master bedroom.

Adele sends Jenna one last glance before her and Elena begin towards their rooms. "Once again…I'm really, really sorry." Jenna says moving from the stairs and stopping them in their doorways. "It's okay Jenna." Elena assures and Jenna doesn't seem to buy it as she looks between them. "I know he's been staying over a lot…are you sure it's okay?"

"Jenna, you deserve to be happy to and it seems like things are good." Adele smirks at her Aunt who smirks back at her. "Things are extremely good."

"Then we're extremely okay with it."

~x~

There's a knock at the door later that morning and Adele freezes in the kitchen, she had just grabbed a handful of grapes and a water bottle and was getting ready to head out to school. She waited a minute hoping someone else would get the door but when there's another knock she sighs.

She opens the door while at the same time popping a grape into her mouth. She sees its Stefan and Damon which doesn't surprise her. "Hey, can we talk?" Adele stares at them for a moment, popping another grape into her mouth. "About what?"

"We went to see Katherine." Damon answers when Stefan glances back at him and Adele stares at them for another couple seconds before stepping aside and letting them in. "Elena!" She calls up the stairs as she passes, the guys following her into the kitchen.

Damon lingers in the doorway of the kitchen; his eyes hadn't left Adele since she opened the door. He knew she was at the house last night, he had heard her pull up but she didn't come inside and while usually he would want to know why, at this moment he's glad. He feels horrible enough about hooking up with Rose without having to be caught. It's not like Adele had slipped from his mind at all last night, his thoughts we're all about her and he thinks maybe that's why he did what he did and when it was done, he felt wave after wave of guilt for doing it.

He doesn't understand why though. There not together so he's technically he has free rein to do whatever he very well pleases but that logic was lost when it came to the guilt. There's no denying that he belongs to her, weather she wants him or not.

He moves out of the doorway to stand at the other side of the Kitchen, away from her and she's noticing that even though he's staring right at her, he doesn't notice her staring back and she's staring because there's an expression on his face that tells her, he's done something wrong. That he's guilty of something. It's also in the way his eyes narrow in on her and flash with regret.

Not being able to stand the intensity in his gaze when she doesn't know what's wrong with him, she opens the drawer next to her on the left and takes out her digital camera. Turning it on, she points it at Damon and angles it just right before snapping the picture and the click makes Damon snap out of his mind and really focus on her and he frowns in confusion. Did she just take a picture of him?

Before he comments Elena joins them and Stefan right away jumps into explaining to them how Katherine told them if they got Bonnie to lift the spill on the tomb she'd give them the moonstone and then take off. Adele frowns because there's no way that's true.

"You don't believe her do you?" Elena finally asks causing Damon to scoff like it was the stupidest question ever, which it could very well be. "No of course not, we just want the moonstone."

"According to Rose's friend Slater there's a way to destroy the spell that Klaus wants to break." Stefan explains and at the mention of Rose Adele suppresses the urge to roll her eyes.

"No spell, no doppelganger sacrifice, ergo you live." Adele turns away from looking at Damon to look at Elena and she can tell by the look on her sister's face that she already didn't like this plan.

"How do you destroy it?" Elena finally asks and Stefan leans forward on the counter. "By releasing it from the moonstone." Adele runs a hand through her untamed hair. Elena's not the only one who doesn't like this idea. After everything they learned yesterday Adele figures destroying the spell will only anger Klaus, not to mention, "How do you guys even know this is going to work?" She speaks up as Elena moves to stand in front of the Island.

"Because we have a crafty witch on our side." Damon responses and Adele looks up at him, wanting to shake her head. "You discussed it with Bonnie." Elena says casting her eyes down to the white counter. "She agreed to do anything she could to help us." Adele's not sure how she feels about the brothers coming up with plans without consulting her and Elena. Sure she knows there just trying to save Elena, but Elena is the one who needs to be saved and Adele is just as much a part of trying to save her as anyone else, they have a right to know what is going on.

"Katherine has the moonstone; she's not going to give it to you." Elena argues and Stefan shrugs a shoulder. "We're going to get it from her."

"Well what he means to say is we will pry it from her cold dead hand if we have to." Damon stops pacing to stand beside Adele.

"Bonnie just needs to lift the seal long enough for us to get in, get the moonstone and get out in time for her to return it." Stefan explains as simply as possible.

"Wow." Elena nods glancing between the two brothers. "It seems like you guys already have it all planned out."

"Yep, we're awesome." This time Adele does shake her head as she looks up at Damon. "Except for one thing…" She mutters causing the brothers to look at her before Elena continues for her.

"I don't want you to do it." There gazes return to the brunette in surprise, before glancing at each other. Stefan turns back to Elena while Damon glances at Adele who has gone back to being silent. "What are you talking about? Elena, we don't have a choice."

"What about Klaus?" Adele asks.

"We'll find him, right after we get the moonstone." Stefan answers glancing up at her.

"Is that before or after he kills everyone that I care about? Including the three of you." Elena all but snaps.

"Elena, if we can destroy the moonstone we can save your life." Stefan tries to reason but Elena sighs. "I know everyone keeps saying that." With that Elena pushes away from the Island and walks away leaving the three of them in the kitchen. Damon glances down at Adele as Stefan looks back at her and she only sighs shaking her head before going after Elena.

Adele walks into Elena's room after a few moments of waiting for the brothers to leave. "There plan is ridicules! You know it is!" Elena exclaims, pacing the length of her room. Adele nods slightly. "They're going to get themselves and everyone else killed!"

"Elena, I don't think we have much of a choice at the moment. We have to do something."

"I know and I think I know what. We have to find Klaus." Adele opens her mouth to say something but closes it just as quickly. She's not sure she understands. "I have to give myself up to him."

"Whoa! Elena, slow down. No. That's a horrible idea."

"It's the only way to save all of you, if they destroy the moonstone, your all dead."

"Elena…"

"Adele…please." Taking a breath Adele runs a hand through her hair again, if she doesn't stop doing that she's going to start pulling it out.

"Okay, clam down. I think I have a plan forming…"

"Is it stupid and dangerous?" Elena stops pacing to stare at her and Adele shrugs slightly.

"Probably."

"Okay…what is it?"

"We need to get all the information we can on this guy and fast. Damon and Rose went to this Slater guy for information right? Obviously they didn't get enough. We're going to go to the boarding house and we're going to get Rose to take us to him. We're going to find a way to stop him before he finds us."

~x~

Elena follows behind her sister as they enter the boarding house. She feels bad for what she's doing; yeah she's going with her sister to help find information but for a completely different reason. She's going to give herself up; it's the only way whether they see that or not and yes she's using her sister to do it and she doesn't expect Adele to be even remotely happy with her by the end of the day, but it's all worth it if she can save them.

"It's not nice to leave a girl naked so early in the morning…" Turning Elena's eyes widen as Rose walks in with nothing but a silk red robe on and there's no mistaking her comment which makes Elena glance to Adele. Her eyes are narrowed slightly and cold, she's also very tense.

Rose looks up from tying the robe and is surprised that it's not Damon she's looking at but Elena Gilbert and the girl Damon's so in love with, Adele Gilbert who is staring at her with a killer glare. "Whoa…sorry I thought you we're…" She cuts off realizing it might not be a good idea to say his name at the moment and even though she shouldn't be smiling she can't seem to wipe it from her face.

"Uh…sorry, we uh…" Elena stutters out when it becomes clear Adele isn't going to say anything and Rose gestures to the rest of the house. "There's no one else here."

"Well, we came to talk to you." Adele finally speaks, wiping the glare from her face and putting on a convincing poker face, it could have worked to if Rose and Elena didn't know just how mad or upset she really is. "Then I should probably get dressed." Rose smile widens and Adele sends her a smile back, hers though is wicked and cold making her look twisted and more threatening than any one human should. "You probably should."

Rose disappears and slowly Elena turns back to Adele who is pulling at her hair in frustration. No wonder he looked so freaking guilty this morning, and now she's glad she didn't get a chance to go into the house last night. It shouldn't hurt so much, knowing Damon slept with Rose but it does and inside she's yelling at herself. _Stop feeling so hurt! This is what you want! You don't want Damon caught up on you; you need him at a distance! _

~x~

"It's a bad idea." Rose shakes her head; all feelings of being smug about last night towards the blonde is gone after listening to what these girls wanted from her.

Elena had just explained to Rose that they need to go find her friend to get more information on Klaus but she was disagreeing with them not that Adele was surprised about that.

"No it's not, from what Stefan told us your friend Slater obviously has more information about Klaus. You and Damon just gave up before you got it." Elena says and Rose looks on in disbelief. "Because someone blew up a coffee shop with us in it."

"Well that's not really our problem is it? There's more to learn, we just have to find a way to learn it." Adele explains.

"Why are you coming to me with this?"

Elena straightens her shoulders. "Because you owe me, one word from me and Stefan and Damon could've killed you for kidnapping me."

"Or maybe it's because you know they wouldn't want you doing this and there moonstone plan gave you a chance to sneak away."

"We had a disagreement okay? Their willing to risk everyone that I love and I'm not."

"There just trying to protect you."

"And you've proven that you couldn't care less if I'm protected or not so we're back to you taking us to Salter." Rose moves to sit next to Elena and Adele stays put standing behind the couch. "What exactly do you hope to achieve by this?"

Seeing that Elena is thinking about an answer Adele steps in, leaning forward slightly. "How would you like to be able to walk in the sun?" Rose's eyes snap up to her and she raises an eyebrow. "I've been a slave to shadows for 500 years what do you think?"

"I know a witch who's willing to do whatever it takes to help me out. You know if you're willing to make a deal."

~x~

_Where are you? ~Damon_

It's the fourth message asking her to tell him where she is in the last 30 minutes and she wasn't about to tell him she was walking up to the door of Rose's friend Salter's apartment. All he would do is race down and drag her and Elena back kicking and screaming. Some things we're better left in the dark at this moment.

Rose bangs on the old warn out double doors twice waiting for an answer and when she doesn't get one she bangs again. "Slater! Slater its Rose! Open up!" When she gets no answer once again she turns to them. "He's not home, sorry." Adele snorts stepping forward, she's not about to let her just give up. "We didn't come all the way out here for nothing." She nods towards the door and Rose sends her a solid hate filled glare before turning back.

She grips the two handles tightly waiting for the twins to step up beside her before pushing and the chain that is locking the door snaps with the force letting the door swing open to reveal the apartment to them and Adele has to attempt it's a nice apartment.

Rose walks in first calling out Slater's name as Adele takes in the surroundings and Elena looks around as well sticking close to Adele. "I don't think he's going to be much help." Looking up Adele and Elena rush over to Rose to see what she's staring at and Adele curses as they see the vampire dead on the floor with a wooden stake sticking out of his chest.

Rose moves forward to move the body while Elena watches her and Adele moves over to the desk counting exactly 6 flat screen desktop monitor lined up. "Looks like whoever blew up the coffee shop, found him and killed him for his information." Adele observes picking up a couple stacks of papers to exam them as Elena and Rose come up behind her.

"Yeah probably to stop him from helping people like us. The guy was a vampire almanac, knowing too much information just bit him in the ass." Rose mutters and there's a hint of sorrow to her voice and while Elena looks on sympathetically, Adele doesn't react. Call her heartless but at this point she just doesn't care what happens that causes the vampire behind her pain and it might have everything to do with her flaunting Damon in her face this morning, because that is exactly what she did and while he's not hers, she feels very possessive of him.

Rose moves over to open the curtains causing the twins to look up. "What are you…?" Rose cuts Elena off. "Tampered glass. The UV rays can't penetrate. I used to just come here and watch the day." Elena who had picked up a picture on the desk with who she assumed is Slater and some girl, looks up from it. "I'm sorry about Slater."

Rose looks back completely ignoring the comment. "Any luck?" Elena sets the frame to the side moving on to the computers which they come to find out is password protected not that they really thought they wouldn't be.

"It's password protected I can't get in." Elena sighs and Rose shrugs. "Then this is pointless, let's just go." Adele shakes her head sitting down in the desk chair. "No, there's always a way." She mutters but the sound of something hitting the ground from behind them causes them all to turn.

Rose tells them to stay put before she moves to another set of wooden double doors off to the side. She pushes them open and peers into the room, seeing the raven haired woman peeking out from behind what looked like a tall wooden storage cabinet. "Alice?"

Adele and Elena glance at each other from the side as they watch the woman rush into Rose who awkwardly hugs her back while the woman who she had called Alice cries muttering about him being dead.

~x~

After a few minutes of consoling the still crying woman in the other room Rose joins the Gilbert twins in the kitchen where Elena is making tea. "She found him a few minutes before we did." She explains to them while Adele leans back against the counter playing with the ends of her blonde hair. "How is she?" Elena asks and Rose shrugs a shoulder glancing between Elena and Alice. "Over reacting. Big time."

"Her boyfriend just died, there's no such thing as over reacting." Elena snaps and Adele stays quiet because she had noticed right away that Alice wasn't all that torn up about the death of her boyfriend. Half those tears she's still managing to produce are fake. "Those tears are for her. She didn't care about Slater. She was only dating him long enough to see if he'd turn her." While Elena gazes at Rose with a look of disbelief Adele steps forward taking a cup of tea from Elena. "Good, then I don't feel bad about what I have to do."

She leaves the two in the kitchen to join Alice where she hands her the tea and sends her a small smile but its fake much like the woman's tears. "Thank you." Adele nods taking a seat next to her. "Your sister looks really familiar. Did either of you know Slater?"

"Not personally, no. I just knew that he kept…detailed…records of all of his vampire contacts and I was hoping that you could point me towards Klaus." She explains briefly and Alice looks back up at her from her tea.

"Doubtful. Klaus doesn't want to be pointed at."

Adele nods, she figured as much. "Do you know Slater's computer password?"

"Are you seriously asking me that right now? I just saw my boyfriend with a stake through his heart."

Adele nods at her again. "I know and that's all very…horrible." She tries to sound sympathetic but soon realizes she failed when the woman's gaze turns into a glare. She rolls her eyes, she wasn't about to play games with a mourning woman who wasn't even truly mourning. "Do you know his password?"

Alice's eyes rank over Adele in something along the lines of disgust before turning back to her tea. "Who do you think you are?"

In any normal situation Adele would've lost her patients with the woman long ago but she takes a deep settling breath and continues on. "Who do I think I am? I think I'm a girl who needs information. What would you say…" Adele leans forward slightly and lowers her voice though she knows very well Rose can still hear her. "If I could convince Rose to turn you? Would you help me then?" The woman's sad eyes light up right away and a small smile forms on her red lips causing Adele to smirk.

The woman quickly moves to the computers and Adele follows along with Rose and Elena who come in from the kitchen. She enters his password and begins searching only to find nothing. "Someone's been here. The hard drives completely wiped out."

"Yeah probably whoever killed him." Rose mentions as Elena paces behind the desk chair losing all hope that they might find something.

"Lucky for you Slater was paranoid. Everything is backed up on our remote server." Adele watches as the girl does whatever it is she's doing to get into the files and barely regards Rose as she leans over. "You know she's not getting anywhere near my blood right?" She whispers and Adele sends her a quick glance as she moves forward. "I know that, but she doesn't."

"Kristen Stewart, god was he obvious." Alice mutters as she pulls up a folder with way more than a few files with in. "These are all leads to vampires?" Elena asks and Alice nods. "Slater was obsessed, almost as much as me."

Rose who is gazing over their shoulders speaks up as a name stands out to her. "What about that one? Cody Weber. They exchanged dozens of emails about Elijah." She observes as Elena glances at her and Adele reads over the names of the files.

"I could call him." Alice offers and Elena hands her the phone next to them.

"Tell him that we're trying to send a message to Klaus. The Doppelganger is alive and she's ready to surrender." Adele stands up straight, her shoulders tensing and her eyes widening, complete shock washing over her as she turns to look at her sister. "What?" Rose snaps before Adele has the chance to and Alice stares up at Elena in amazement. "Oh my god, I knew I recognized you."

"Get him the message please." Elena says and Alice nods before Adele grabs a hold of Elena's upper arm and Elena hisses in pain, her grip is a little harder then she intended it to be but at this point she doesn't care. She drags Elena from the room and into the kitchen where she pushes her forward. Elena stumbles to keep her balance, bracing herself on the counter before turning to look at her sister in surprise. "What the fuck are you doing?" Adele voice booms through the apartment, even though she tried to keep it quiet.

"I'm getting Klaus's attention." She answers shortly as she sees Rose coming up behind them. "If Klaus knows that your alive, he'll find you and he'll kill you." Rose points out and though Adele didn't hear her come up –not with the blood rushing through her head– she doesn't take her eyes from Elena who is staring back at her. "Which is exactly what you wanted all along." Rose realizes and Adele feels her hands clenching by her sides. "It's either me or my family." Elena points out.

"So this whole charade was a suicide mission that your sister obviously knew nothing about just so you could sacrifice yourself to save everyone else?"

Alice pops up beside Adele. "Cody is on his way and he really wants to meet you." Adele whips to the side starling Alice. "Get out." She snaps and Alice's wide eyes widen more. "Excuse me?"

"Get out, both of you get out now!" She demands and while Rose is backing out, Alice stands her ground. "This is my kitchen…" Even though she's a few inches shorter than the woman Adele squares her shoulders and straightens her back, her eyes on fire and blackening and her fist clenching tighter, so tight her knuckles have turned white. "I need a word with my sister alone, so I suggest you get out or I'll knock you on your ass and throw you out." She whispers and while Alice glares she does as she says, because the wild look in the young girl's eyes made her feel a bit uneasy.

She turns back to Elena. "You have 3 seconds to tell me you're joking." Elena swallows and shakes her head. "I'm not joking."

~x~

"You used me to get over here just so you could sacrifice yourself! Well it's not going to happen!"

"Yes it is! You can't stop me! I have to do this Adele! Why can't you understand that?"

"How am I supposed to understand that my sister is allowing herself to die? Please enlighten me Elena! How?"

"I'm trying to save you and Jeremy and Stefan and Damon and everyone else!"

"We can take care of ourselves; we've done a damn good job so far! We're leaving now!"

"You can leave but I'm staying! This is my choice, not yours!" Elena in a show of bravery pushes past her sister and stocks from the room. Adele takes a moment to gather her self-control before going after her. She slows to a stop seeing Elena over by the monitors with Alice. Elena looks back at her before her eyes travel behind Adele causing her to spins around and she curses as she's met with the sight of Damon's lean figure standing tall and tense in front of her.

"What are you doing here?" He asks, his eyes narrowing down at her before looking up to Elena who has come up behind Adele. "What are you doing here?" Elena asks before turning to see Rose step out of a different room. "You called him?" Adele can't even begin to express the amount of relief that is rushing through her veins. This situation became way too much for her to handle on her own a long time ago and she was contemplating calling him herself.

"I'm sorry Elena."

"I thought you said you understood?"

"She lied." Damon says cutting off whatever Rose was going to say in her defense.

"Damon Salvatore." Adele's head snaps over to look at Alice. Where in that woman's mind did she figure it was the appropriate time to come over and announce who they we're talking to in utter amazement when it's obvious that the air in the room had become very tense? Who does this woman think she is? Adele is about to say something when Damon does it for her.

"Get rid of her." Rose grips Alice's elbow steering her from the room but not before she can utter a 'No Way' that makes Adele want to slap her.

"Come on we're leaving." Damon demands much like Adele had as he regards the both of them, more so Elena as he saw the relief flash across Adele's face the minute she realized it was him.

"No." Elena shakes her head, standing her ground while Adele moves to the side. She knows when she needs to back down.

"Elena he's right we need to go." Adele tries to reason.

"Exactly, I said we're leaving."

"I'm not going with you guys."

"You don't get to make decisions anymore, neither of you do!" Damon snaps causing Adele to look at him but before she responses Elena beats her to it.

"When have I ever made a decision? You two and Stefan do that for me. Now this, this is my decision."

"A stupid decision." Adele mutters threw gritted teeth but they ignore her.

"Who's going to save your life while you're out making decisions?"

"You're not listening to me! I don't want to be saved!" Her voice echoes through the apartment as her voice level rises. "Not if it means that Klaus is going to kill every single person that I love."

"Get your ass out the door before I throw you over my shoulder and carry you out myself." And he's completely serious. He made a promise to himself that Elena isn't going to die. If it's the one thing he can do for Adele, he's going to do it. When Elena fails to move Damon reaches out to grab her arm but Elena hits his hand away. "No." She snaps but he goes for her again. She pulls back her fist and throws it forward trying to hit Damon but failing when he catches her fist.

Adele can see that he's more livid then he was when he first arrived as he narrows his eyes down at Elena who's own eyes flash with fear and she gasps at the pressure he's putting on her fist as he holds it tight refusing to let it go. "Don't ever do that again." He threatens and Adele springs forward, grabbing the hand over Elena's and pulling it off. "Damon, clam down." She whispers as she looks up at him, now wedged between the two. Before she can pull her own hand from Damon's he grips it and squeezes before leaning forward, inches from her face where his eyes travel from her eyes to her lips and back again. "Do you realize how stupid this was?" He whispers and she nods, his eyes soften. "Good." He breathes letting go.

~x~

Adele pulls at the ends of her hair as she waits for Damon to finish compelling Alice into forgetting about today. Elena is sat on a chair being watched by Rose, while Adele chooses to pace the room.

Her phone buzzes in her pocket and to distract herself she pulls it out.

_Just reminding you of our coffee date tomorrow; don't be late. ~Unknown Number_

Adele glances up at the other two in the room and turns away slightly.

_I won't be late as long as you don't pull anything funny. I mean it, only you and whatever his name is. That's it. If I came and see more, nothing is going to end well for you. ~Adele_

_I'm a man of my word Adele Gilbert. You have nothing to worry about. Have a nice night. ~James_

The doors to the bedroom open and Damon steps out with a scowl still present on his features. "Time to go. Alice is soundly sleeping and won't remember a moment of this horribly stupid day." Adele seems to notice that one word is being thrown around a lot today but with good reason of course.

He stops in front of the three but nobody has a chance to move before the doors are flung open and both Elena and Rose jump to their feet while Damon turns around, his arm going out to push Adele somewhat behind him. Three guys, all of decent size stroll into the room like everything is normal and they didn't just bust into someone else's apartment. "We're here to meet the doppelganger."

"Thank you for coming." Elena who is standing behind Adele goes to walk past her but she quickly grabs Elena's forearm gazing back at her. "I will break your arm." She threatens and Elena whimpers at the surprisingly tight and painful grip her sister is capable of.

Damon regards the three men carefully. "There's nothing here for you." A sickening crack comes from the man at the back of the group standing in the door way and all their eyes fall to him as he drops to the ground giving them full view of Elijah much to Damon's shock and horror.

Elijah uses his speed to get to the other two and before a word is spoken between anyone, Rose is gone speeding out of the apartment before anyone can stop her not that anyone was paying much attention to her anyways.

After looking between the two random guys in the room, Elijah's eyes fall on them, regarding mostly the doppelganger and lingering longer on the blonde and he doesn't fail to notice the way the older Salvatore pushes her so he's almost completely shielding her with his own body now and more out of his sight and the way the beautiful blonde grips the Salvatore's arm tightly in her petite hands. "I killed you. You we're dead."

"For centuries now." His voice isn't that deep and it's complimented by an English accent Adele notices before he turns back to the two randoms. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Elijah." The man who is the only one willing to talk seems speechless for only half a minute before he points to Elena. "We we're going to bring her to you. For Klaus. She's the Doppelganger. I don't know how she exists but she does. Klaus would want to see her." Adele rolls her eyes from behind Damon. Of course she exists; what a nice way to point out the obvious.

"Does anyone else know that you're here?" Elijah asks, his tone is calm, a little to calm for Adele's liking.

"No." The man who is obviously the leader of the little group says. "Well then you have been incredibly helpful…" Adele winces as she hears more then she sees Elijah shoves a hand into each man's chest before pulling out there hearts and dropping them to the floor next to the now dead bodies. Elijah's eyes meet Adele's briefly as she peers at him from over Damon's shoulder who has stepped forward ready for a fight, only Elijah turns fleeing the scene and surprising all of them.

~x~

Adele is still very much pissed off by the time they make it home and she orders Elena inside. "You can't order me around." Elena snaps.

"Watch me! Now get inside!" Elena huffs but doesn't argue as she slips into the house, annoyed with her sister and Damon for thinking they can control what she does. As the door closes back up Adele turns to Damon. "Thank you for driving us home."

"Well your ride left you; I didn't want to leave you stranded." At the mention of Rose Adele remembers what happened this morning and she has to look away from Damon, hoping he won't notice the hurt that flashes through her eyes but of course he does as he pulls her chin back. "What's wrong?"

"I can't believe Elijah's alive." Damon rolls his eyes; she could at least be sly about wanting to change the subject. "Why do you think he killed those two vampires and just left us there?"

"If I had a dollar for every time an evil vampire surprised me." Adele doesn't say anything as she turns back to the door, ready to go inside and try to forget about this horrible night without killing her sister. She needs to be in the right frame of mind to meet James tomorrow anything less would cause there meeting to end badly depending on what it is he wants from her.

Damon takes a hold of her forearm, stopping her from opening the door. "What you did today was really stupid."

"How was I supposed to know she was going to use me to get over there just so she could go on a suicide mission? I was just as shocked as you we're and also a little betrayed at that, so I don't want to hear. You should probably go; I'm sure Rose is waiting for you." There was no denying the harsh tone of her voice and the hurt that flashes threw her blue eyes once again. Damon realizes that she knows she knows what happened between him and Rose last night. But how? Did Rose tell her? If Rose told her, Damon was going to have a hard time not ripping her throat out the next time he sees her.

"Goodnight Damon." As they turn back to the door, they notice it's open and Jeremy is standing there looking between them. Adele notices the bandage on his neck stained with a small patch of blood. "What happened?" She demands grabbing his head and turning it to the side to exam his neck further.

"Adele…" She lets him go, looking up at him with anxious eyes. "What?" She asks, a knot forming in her stomach. "Stefan…he's stuck in the tomb, with Katherine."

"What?" Adele snaps feeling like the wind has been knocked out of her. "It's my fault. I'm sorry…I haven't told Elena yet, should we?"

"No! Don't say anything to her! One suicide mission is enough for one day!" Adele yells as she's running down the porch steps, she's not even registering what she's doing but Damon is in front of her before she reaches her car. "Damon move!"

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I have to go down there Damon; I have to make sure he's okay! Please move." He can tell she's one step away from being hysterical and it catches him by surprise. He hadn't realized how close his brother and Adele actually were. "I'll take you down there, just to see how he is. Do not to anything that'll make me regret it."

~x~

As soon as the car was stopped, Adele was out running towards the old church grounds with Damon close behind her. She's down the steps and underground quickly almost tripping on one of the steps. She reaches the tomb opening.

"Stefan!" She calls loudly but she gets no answer. It makes her uneasy how silent the tomb is. "Stefan!" She calls again but still nothing and she's about to run in, to look for him, to make sure he's okay when she's moved away from the opening. He threw her a little harder than necessary as the sharp edges of the stone wall digs into her back.

"Don't even think about it."

"We can't just leave him in there Damon! Elena is going to freak out, we don't need to give her anymore reason to throw away her live! He's not safe in there! How could you let this happen?" She knows it's not fair to blame him but she just needs someone to blame and he's the only person near. Everything about this day had gone all wrong.

"I was too busy saving you and Elena from your kamikaze mission."

"That wasn't my fault! She used me; I'm just as pissed about that as you!"

"Why did you even go there?"

"Because I was trying to come up with a different approach, one that could save you and everyone else including Elena! You didn't have to go after the moonstone in the first place! We could've found another way!"

"It was the right call Adele!"

"Right call? How is any of this the right call! I'm not willing to lose everyone I love! I've lost too much already!" She throws a clenched fist at his chest and it hits hard not that it affects him in the least bit. "Let me go!" He doesn't say anything or make any move to get out of the way so she hits him again and again and his hands grip a hold of her hip tightly, keeping her from moving away from the wall. It's all her frustration from the past couple days coming out and he was the closest person to take it out on so he lets her hit him over and over again yelling at him to let her go as angry tears well up at the corners of her eyes.

Moving his hands up her sides to her back, he pushes her into him, holding her closely as she continues to fight against him and as his arms secure around her, she falls against him with a soft whimper that gets muffled by the fabric of his shirt. "Are you done?" He whispers and she pushes him away before slipping past him and leaving.

He knows she's not going to get far seeing as he's her ride home, so instead of going after her he turns to Stefan who finally appears in the opening. He had heard the whole exchange between the two and he was glad it was Adele who had come running to try and rescue him instead of Elena, Adele can hold her own, Stefan is well aware of that not that he thought she would even get in, Damon like he had would always stop her from endangering herself and she would listen because it's Damon but Elena is a different story. She'd pushed her way into the tomb and he's not sure he could stop Katherine from killing her. "Out of all the idiot plans Stefan."

Stefan nods looking to the ground before looking up and around the opening. "I'll find a way to get you out." Damon assures and Stefan shrugs a shoulder, though he's touched that his brother is showing he cares. "That's alright, I'll uh…I'll handle myself. Bonnie has the moonstone, work with her. Try to figure out how to dispel it."

"You martyr yourself into a tomb and I get partnered with a semi capable witch." Damon retorts causing Stefan to chuckle.

"Keep Adele and Elena away from here." Stefan says after a moment of silence causing Damon to snort. "Yeah because that'll be easy."

"Promise me. No matter what happens you'll protect them."

"I promise."

~x~

The car ride back to the house was silent; Adele kept her eyes focused on things outside of the car the whole time and when he pulls up to the house, she's out of the car before he can say anything but he has something to say so he goes after her, completely forgetting that the car is running and leaving the door wide open. "Adele wait!"

She freezes just in front of the porch steps, turning slowly to look back at him. "What?" She breathes and he stops walking when he's a good couple feet away.

"Look…about Rose…" He trails off seeing her shake her head. "It's fine Damon, you don't have to explain yourself to me."

"But…"

"No. We're not together Damon and I…I want you to be happy. Waiting for me won't make you happy and I can't ask you to wait for me. If you want Rose be with her, if you want someone else, be with them. Please Damon, don't hold back because of me. I can't give you what you deserve right now. I'm sorry, I'm just not there yet…I'm sorry."

She turns around and bolts up the porch steps and into the house. He didn't even get a chance to stop her, he was too stunned to move, let alone speak. He had no idea she was thinking that way, how could he? They'd been at each other's throats for days now but still he didn't see that coming and he wants to barge into the house and tell her she's wrong. That he doesn't want anyone else and that he is willing to wait for her but he doesn't, she's way too worked up to be able to be reasoned with. It would have to wait till she's a little calmer. It would have to wait till tomorrow.

* * *

><p><strong>Oh man, Damon just keeps screwing up doesn't he? xD So I think I gave away that Adele is going to be meeting with James in the next chapter, I hope you're all excited about that, and man I'm frustrating myself having to keep Damon and Adele apart, but I have good reason, it's all leading up to something, you just stick with me and find out what it is. ;) <strong>

**Please Review. **


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26: By the Light of the Moon **

"Can you hear it?" His voice is filled with panic and fear and her heart aches for him as she's forced to listen to Mason's screams from over the phone. He's playing back a video of one of Mason's transitions him and Caroline had found yesterday for her over the phone and she really didn't want to hear anymore. She didn't understand why he wasn't freaking out on Caroline right now; she was going to be there with him to. He was beginning to freak her out as well.

"Yes Ty, I hear it. Listen to me, you need to stop watching that video, you're only going to drive yourself mad."

"The full moon is tonight Adele! I'm freaking out here!"

"I know Tyler, I know! Look we're going to get you through this. You have to trust us."

"It's going to hurt…" Adele sighs keeping a close eye on the road as she drives. "It will but don't think about it, at least not right now." Tyler is silent for a couple of minutes. "Have you heard from Mason? I mean I know you guys we're pretty close so I don't know maybe you guys stayed in touch or something." Guilt true and harsh washes through her veins and she closes her eyes briefly a she pulls up to a stop light.

"If I was in contacted with him Ty, I would have called him the minute Caroline told me what happened. I don't know where he is. I'm sorry."

"Okay. I'll see you tonight right? I mean you're not going to bail on me? I need you there Adele, I know Caroline's going to be there but she's not you. I need you."

Tyler and Adele had been through a lot together. When Tyler dislocated his shoulder when they we're 13, Adele had been right there holding his hand when they popped it back into place, and when he got sick she spent hours just hanging around in his room with him doing nothing. When Adele had to get her appendix removed, he was the first person besides her father who she saw when she opened her eyes and he spent a week at her house to keep her company in her recovery. Adele could think of a million more examples that could prove that they had been each other's back board for a lot; she wasn't just going to leave him with this.

"Of course I'm going to be there tonight. I promise."

"Okay, then I'll see you tonight. I love you Adele."

"I love you to Tyler." Adele hangs up the phone with a huff, once again asking herself why her family? Why did all this shit have to happen to her family? Elena is on a suicide mission and Tyler is going to go through a very painful transition into a werewolf tonight that Adele promised she's try to help him through and she had no idea how to even go about doing that. Well at least she had one problem taken care of…

~x~

With a mug of coffee Bonnie rounds the corner ready to head back upstairs to sit with Elena but instead she notices Elena bouncing down the steps with her keys in one hand. "Where are you going?" She asks softly stepping in front of the stairs so Elena has to stop. "Um…to see Stefan."

Bonnie nods. "You're lying." It was all over the look on her face and the way she keeps glancing at the door. "No I'm not." Elena laughs coming further down the stairs and making a move to pass her but Bonnie blocks her. "Really? Tell your face."

"Are you serious?" Elena asks and jumps as Jeremy speaks up from behind her. "She took the moonstone." He sings waving Bonnie's handbag in the air. "How did you…" Elena trails off looking between her best friend and her brother. "We tested you. You failed." Bonnie explains causing Elena to roll her eyes in frustration.

"Klaus killed Katherine's entire family just because she crossed him." She steps down to the last step, coming almost face to face with Bonnie. "I can't let that happen." Bonnie shrugs a shoulder moving aside slowly to let Elena threw and she frowns. It can't really be that easy can it?

She moves forward anyways, and looks back as she opening the door and is jolted when she figures out she can't get through the doorway. There seemed to be an invisible wall keeping her from leaving. She turns back to them seeing Bonnie still standing at the end of the stairs and Jeremy sitting on a step, his elbows rested on his knees and his chin in one hand, looking wildly amused. "What did you do?"

"It's for the best Elena." Bonnie says looking back up to Jeremy as Elena turns to push on the invisible wall. Jeremy chuckles. "Well you can't say Adele isn't smart." He speaks up causing Elena to look back once again.

_Damon showed up at the house very early that morning, Adele was in the middle of getting ready for her coffee meeting with James and Jeremy had been the one to answer the door, thankfully Elena was still sleeping. _

_As Adele makes it into the living room, she can hear Damon ordering Jeremy to call the witch otherwise known as Bonnie. "What is this about?" She asks catching Damon's attention. "We need to come up with a plan to keep Elena off her martyr mission." The air between the two is notably tense so Jeremy takes the call into the kitchen, letting the two have time to talk though they don't, they stayed completely silent only sending glances towards one another when they thought the other wasn't looking. _

"_What is this about?" Bonnie asks as she enters the Gilbert house. "We need to fill you two up on a few things before we come up with a plan. Come on." Bonnie joins the two Gilbert siblings in the living room ahead of Damon but no Elena, which surprises her. "Elena is still sleeping and I suspect she's going to be waking up soon so we need to make this fast. We just want to inform you quickly that Elena is on a suicide mission. She has a plan in her head to give herself up to Klaus in order to save the rest of us. We found this out yesterday." _

_Bonnie and Jeremy look between each other before looking back at Adele and Damon. "No way. Elena wouldn't do that. She wouldn't throw her life away." Bonnie argues and Adele crosses her arms already forming a plan to keep Elena out of danger in her head. "Think about who you're talking about here Bonnie. Elena, she thinks it's her duty to protect all of us. Yes she would do this." Damon points out to them and Jeremy seems skeptical. "I don't know…" He mutters._

"_You don't believe us fine, test her. Bonnie has the Moonstone right? So show her the moonstone today, then causally put it in that nice little handbag of yours and leave it in the room with her. Elena will grab that bitch up faster than you can say sacrifice and try to make her escape but when she tries to step foot out of the house, surprise! She can't leave because Bonnie is going to put up a tomb spell that's going to keep her from leaving and you three can take turns being on Elena duty for the day." _

_The three are surprised, she obviously came up with that plan on a whim and it was a damn good plan. "Where are you going to be?" Damon asks as he noticed she said you three instead of us four. "I have something I need to take care of and then I have to help Caroline with Tyler. I don't have time to watch over my idiot sister." _

"_Whoa, what? No you can't go anywhere near Tyler tonight." _

"_I can and I will. I have to help him Damon. Caroline is a vampire, Tyler's natural instincts tonight are going to be to kill her, I have to make sure there both okay which means if she has to leave, I stay." _

"_What if he gets loose? He could kill you." _

"_I'll deal with that if it happens." _

~x~

She had thought about telling Jasmine about this meeting, but decided against it at the last minute. She was doing this to protect Jasmine just as much as she was doing it to protect Damon and the rest of them as well so she's alone walking down the sidewalk towards the coffee shop Adele and Jasmine had used the day Adele told Jasmine they needed to leave town.

Her stomach is an knots and her palms are sweating as she nears the shop, spotting who she's been dreading to see since she made this meeting. He wasn't that tall of a man, maybe about five foot ten or five foot elven, at least that's how she remembered him seeing as he was sitting down now. He has board shoulders and a board chest to match fitted into a light blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up three-quarters of the way. His dark hair that is starting to slightly grey is cut close but not quite close enough to be considered a buzz cut. His dark eyes move from his blackberry to his surrounding every so often.

The man sitting next to him is someone Adele doesn't recognize. From what she can see even though he's sitting, he has to be a good six foot three if not taller, much leaner then James as well. He's dressed more causally in a black fitted t-shirt, black jeans and black combat boots, a leather jacket thrown over the back of his chair. His dark hair is a tad bit longer then James's spiked in the front and flattening out in the back and he has green eyes much like the color of Jasmine's but a shade lighter.

Taking a deep breath and plastering on her poker face, Adele makes her way over to them and James eyes fall on her as soon as she stops, a wide grin forming on his face. "Adele Gilbert. My have you grown. Please have a seat." She pushes back every urge and thought she has to run and takes a sit in the chair James gestures to across from him at their little four person table. She places her phone and her keys on the placement next to her. "I don't usually do one on one meetings unless they are of dire importance so you must realize before we begin that this little meeting is very important to me and all of my…society."

"Is that what you are? A society? Nice to know."

"Oh how very rude of me, Miss. Gilbert this is one of my most reliable recruits Justin Taylor." Adele's eyes glance over to the other man and he sends her a surprisingly comforting smile.

"You make it sound like your part of the Army." James sends a relaxed smile to her. "You can think of us as our own little Army. Would you like anything to drink or eat?"

Adele shakes her head narrowing her blue eyes slightly at him and his smile falls. "No. I don't plan on being here long. What is it that you want from me James?" She can see out of the corner of her eye, Justin reaching slowly across the table to her phone, obviously thinking she's too focused on James to notice, so she doesn't say anything.

James smile falls slightly, he and Adele stare each other down before his smile returns full force. "I'm quite disappointed you didn't bring Jasmine along with you. It would've been lovely to see her again."

"What do you want from me?" She asks again and this time when James's smile falls, it doesn't seem like it's coming back.

"Wanting to get straight to business, I like that. It's admirable. I'm sure you know exactly what it is I'm the leader of, I'm sure Braxton filled you in on everything." At his mention of Tony, Adele tenses and if James noticed he ignores it. "But I'll refresh your memory. I run a very high ranked Vampire hunting society. Call us an army, call us a cult, it doesn't change the fact that we dedicate our lives to ridding the world of the evil known as Vampires. There are many groups of Vampire hunters across the United States and even Europe but we are by far the biggest, our society alone spreads across America and we're working on getting into Europe."

"That's all good but it doesn't explain what you want from me." Adele says but James keeps talking, like she had never spoken at all.

"Obviously humans are not as strong as Vampires or as fast but we have the technology to come up with new weapons and we train our recruits to be able to hold their own if ever faced with the problem of not having weapon on them. I'm sure you can guess out recruits need to be lean and strong as well has fast and _very_ tough."

"Once again, that is all nice but I still do not see why this has anything to do with me." James leans forward, his forearms resting against the edge of the table as his dark eyes regard her intensely.

"We want to recruit you, Adele Gilbert, into our society."

Her eyes widen and she shoots backwards, her back hitting the steel chair with such force she almost tips over. She opens her mouth to say something but closes it because she can't find the words. She can bet she looks much like a fish out of water at this point and her shock almost causes her to miss Justin slipping her phone back where it was before.

"I know this must come to a shock to you Adele but in reality you'd be a vast accessory to our team. We've had our eye on you for a very long time. I once upon a time was close friends with your parents. I was even there when you we're born, I was just visiting at the time and it was a surprise to us all when Isobel Flemming showed up ready to give birth to you and your sister, though at the time we had no idea she was expecting twins. Your sister was a shock to everyone seeing as she was the second born."

"How long…have you had an eye on me?" She whispers, because she doesn't trust her voice at the moment.

"We saw it the day you we're born that you we're special. You came out silent, you didn't cry, you didn't whine, you didn't whimper, all you did was look up at Grayson. At first Grayson thought that there was something wrong but a quick check proved everything was fine. You we're a perfectly healthy baby. As you grew older your parents noticed that you seemed to be…developing quicker than most babies. You we're walking and talking way before your sister was and you we're very smart. It was when we realized that, that we keep a close eye on you. As you grew, you didn't disappoint. You turned out just the way we thought you would, smart, strong and amazing under pressure.

Your parents knew nothing of our plans to recruit you and we figured Grayson would be smart enough to start teaching you about your towns darkest secret and why it was important for you to know just how dangerous and evil the creatures of the night are but he didn't and we soon realized that after your parents death, you we're…living with the enemy."

"You mean I was dating the enemy." Adele points out her voice strong as she straightens up in her seat, something flashes in the eyes of James but he quickly covers it up and sends her a smile.

"Yes and we had to take action."

"So you killed him, you killed all of them." Her tone is bitter and harsh and he raises his eyebrows at her, like her reaction is shocking to him.

"It didn't have to be that way. If Braxton would've just handed you over, he could've walked away and that goes for the rest of them but he refused and I had to take to drastic measures. He had been a thorn in our side for years and he finally crossed that line. I am sorry it had to come to that. It would just be our luck though that you would get away, with the help of Jasmine of course."

"We're you following her because you want to kill her to?"

"No. We couldn't be sure where you we're at, we didn't know whether you we're heading back to Mystic Falls or going somewhere else and we knew she would lead us to you and lead us she did and we come to find out, your back with the enemy. Damon Salvatore much to our horror, though he's never been a problem to us and I'm sure he knows nothing of our existence, I feel he's much more danger then Braxton. He might be younger but he's a loose cannon and he loves you unlike Braxton. While he did love you, he wasn't a loose cannon. He liked to think before he acted and he calculated every move he made, he was easy to figure out. Damon Salvatore not so much."

Adele sucks in a harsh and unsettling breath. This is exactly what she didn't want. She didn't want James to know anything about Damon. "We're not together. I swear." She whispers and James smiles softens as he watches the panic settle in. "Don't worry Miss. Gilbert. He's safe."

She would've been relieved if she felt she could believe him, but there was that nagging feeling. She can't trust this man, he killed Tony for fuck sakes and he would do the same to Damon if he thought he was standing in the way of what he wants which is her. "You might not be together but you love him, there's no mistaking that and you've grown very fond of his younger brother along with your best friend being turned, your surrounding yourself with those…monsters but yet you don't realize that's what they are."

She doesn't say anything, James is obviously a passionate man about what he believes and she wasn't about to get into the argument that not all vampires are monsters with the leader of a vampire hunters society.

"Like I said, you're a smart girl Adele. I expect you'll make the right decision as to joining us."

She stares at him, silently asking him if he's serious. Here he is pointing out that practically half the people she cares about our vampires and he's asking her to join in an army of vampire hunters.

"Well James, I guess I'm not as smart as you think I am." She says slowly, judging his reaction and as she sees his brows furrow and a frown appear she reaches over to grab her keys and her phone. "I'm not going to join your…society. I can't. My beliefs just aren't the same as yours. I'm sorry to be a disappointment to you." She slowly stands, the chair scraping against the cement as she pushes it back. "Adele…Think about this. Just think about it. We're not asking for a decision to be made right now."

"It doesn't matter if I think about it. It won't happen." She steps around the table. "Have a good day." She says quickly regarding both James and Justin but before she walks away, she remembers something. Turning back she drops her phone from her hand and stomps a foot on it. "And if you really want to track me, do it the old fashion way and send someone to stalk me, at least then if I get sick of it I can knock there ass out and be done with it. No need to put a tracking device in my phone."

James looks shocked for a half a minute before he recovers. "See Adele, you're very smart, I'm sure you'll come to see it my way." She narrows her eyes down at him. "By the way, that's the 2nd phone I've had to destroy because of you. The next one is on you." She kicks the now broken IPhone to the side and walks away, her mind reeling. This cannot be happening.

~x~

After picking up yet another new IPhone she begins her way back home. Sure she didn't have to destroy the phone, she could've just easily opened it up and located the tracking device they put it in, but she wanted to make a point known to them. She wasn't about to start playing by their rules. She wasn't going to be a player in there game. She was not ever going to join them.

The new phone buzzes loudly in the cup holder as she's entering the town, considering she hasn't added any of her contacts back yet, she stares at the number for a second before realizing who it belongs to and she groans. Here we go.

"Hello Elena."

"Do you think this is funny? You can't just order me to be trapped in the house!"

"I can and you want to know why? Because you are officially a danger and I'm trying to save everyone plus you from you."

"I'm trying to save you and everyone else!" Fed up with Elena's attitude towards the whole situation, Adele snaps.

"You want to know something Elena, you want in on a little secret? Giving yourself up to Klaus to be killed in some sacrifice doesn't make you a hero; it makes you stupid and naïve! Did you not hear what Katherine said? He needs a witch, a werewolf and a vampire as well, not just you and we happen to have those three things conveniently on hand at the moment if he decides he can use them, giving yourself up isn't going to stop him from using them and it's going to make it impossible for us to find a way to stop him in time! You're not keeping us from danger Elena; you're throwing us all under the bus! This isn't just about you anymore Elena, it isn't just about keeping you safe! It's about keeping you all safe. You, Caroline, Tyler and Bonnie, do you understand what I'm saying right now? You need to stop and think every once in a while! Start using your head!"

Adele hangs up and is close to throwing her phone out the open window but she clams herself down, not wanting to ruin yet another phone. At this point he didn't have the money to buy another one. She places it back in the cup holder and continues on.

Going into that meeting, she couldn't be sure if James would know anything about Damon but he did, he knew everything and he had a good idea of the kind of guy Damon is and that thought scares her. If he knows how Damon works, he could easily come up with a plan of attack if he suddenly thinks Damon is a threat to his plans for her and not to mention what he could do to everyone else.

There was an under tone to his "I'm sure you'll come to see it my way." There was no mistaking it. He was warning her, warning her that he wasn't going to get off her back any time soon, that he was going to make her –one way or another– see it his way.

So lost in her head she jumps when her phone once again buzzes in the cup holder, only this time it's a text.

_Some girl showed up on the Lockwood's door step asking about Mason. He's officially a missing person. ~Damon._

Once again Adele groans. You have got to be kidding? What the hell man?

_Does Tyler know? ~Adele_

_I would assume so considering Alaric spotted her at The Grill asking about him. ~Damon_

_Damn it! This is just what we need. ~Adele _

_Don't worry about it, I'm already on it. I just thought I'd let you know before you hear it randomly around town. Are you even in town? ~Damon_

_I wasn't but I am now. I'm on my way to meet Tyler and Caroline. ~Adele_

_Are you sure you don't just want to meet me at The Grill? Help me figure out what's going on? ~Damon_

_Yes I'm sure. I promised him, I can't go back on that now. ~Adele_

_Okay. Just…please be careful. If you need me, call me, I'll come right down. ~Damon_

_I know you will. Thank you but I'm sure I'll be fine. ~Adele _

~x~

Parking her mustang next to Caroline's car, stepping from her own car, she takes a look towards the old Lockwood slave quarters and takes a deep breath. Well here goes nothing.

Walking through the wooden door and towards the gate, she can make out Tyler hooking up many chains. "Hey Tyler…how are you doing?" Caroline asks and Tyler steps around her to go over to his bag. "Still human." He responses shortly and Adele can tell he's trying to keep his emotions in check but it's proving difficult for him.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you're setting up for S&M by the looks of this." Adele remarks to make her presences known and causing the two supernatural beings to turns to her. "Only you would think S&M during a situation like this." Caroline says crossing her arms as Tyler comes over to hug Adele tightly and Adele sends Caroline a one sided smirk. "Well you know me…" Caroline laughs shaking her head.

Tyler moves away from Adele to remove his shirt causing Caroline to squeal. "Oh my god! You're not getting naked are you?" Adele laughs as Tyler sends a look Caroline's way. "It's elastic. I mean what should I wear? I don't think it's like the hulk where I get to keep my pants." He retorts feeling more comfortable now that Adele was there.

"What is this?" Adele asks picking up the bottle filled with cloudy water from the ground. "Wolf's bane mixed in to water." Adele's eyes widen as she looks at it. "Whaaat?" Tyler laughs slightly taking the bottle from her. "I have to drink it."

"I figured that much but why? That's going to burn going down."

"I have to. Mason said it will diminish my strength." Adele looks towards Caroline who shrugs a shoulder. "Hey…some woman showed up on my doorstep asking where Mason was this morning. Apparently he didn't go back to Florida."

"You're kidding?" Adele asks, her tone suggesting she's shocked. Tyler shakes his head. "I wonder where he is then." She wonders aloud catching Caroline's eyes once again.

~x~

A couple hours of sitting around and nothing was happening. Tyler has secured himself with the chains and is pacing in front of them as Caroline sits on one of the steps and Adele takes to leaning against the wall.

"What time is it?" Tyler asks, his skin now glistening with sweat as he walks back and forth. "Almost 8." Caroline answers after checking her phone and Tyler nods, glancing to the water bottle next to Caroline. "What time does the moon crest or whatever?" She asks after a moment of silence and Tyler shakes his head. "Not for a while. Mason said that the first transformation can happen before the moon hits its apex."

"Does it say how long you'll actually be a wolf?" Adele asks and Tyler shrugs a shoulder. "A few hours. Maybe more, maybe less." Adele nods and runs a hand through her tangled mess of hair. Tyler stops pacing to look at the water bottle next to Caroline.

He makes his way towards it only stopping when he's forced back and to his knees by the chain on his leg keeping him from going all the way. Cursing he grips the chain and yanks on it but it does budge. Shaking his head he looks back over, leaning over to grab the water bottle from the step.

Standing back up, he walks away once again and opens the bottle. "Are you sure…are you sure you want to do that?" Caroline asks, clearly frightened for him. "I have to." He sends them a glance before bringing the water up to his mouth and taking a long sip from it. Adele braces herself as she watches him. Soon enough, he's choking on the water falling to his knees. Caroline rushes towards him before Adele has the chance to move. She flinches as she hears Tyler telling Caroline to not touch him, obviously struggling to keep the water now.

After a few minutes, he looks up at her still kneeing down beside him. "I'm sorry." He mummers and Caroline nods in understanding. He stays on his knees as Caroline stands back up and looks to Adele who comes forward to grab her hand. Suddenly Tyler starts to pant, reaching up to grip the chain around his neck. "Tyler…" Adele says as her and Caroline both step forward. Adele watches as he reaches behind his neck to the lock of the chain. "Tyler…." She says in both concern and warning. He brings his hands back down looking up at them. "I'm burning up…" Adele bends down to be level with him as he continues to yank at the chain around his neck. "It burns!" He cries and she swallows back the lump forming in her throat. "I know Ty, you just have to breathe."

"I'm trying…" He seems to compose himself long enough to look up at them. "You should go." Adele shakes her head. "Not yet." Caroline says and Tyler looks back to the ground. "You should leave."

"No, Tyler I promised you." Adele says and he looks like he's going to throw up as he gags his back arching. "Tyler…" Caroline calls worried but he doesn't respond to her. He lets out a groan as she calls his name again, both of them jump back and gasps as his arm flies up and over his head in an awkward angle, before bending and a sickening crack follows. This happens in three other places on his arm and each time he screams in agony and Adele has to turn away, closing her eyes to prevent tears. What did she do to have to witness this?

Slowly his arm seems to heal itself and come back down to his side. "It hurts!" Tyler yells to them but neither of them are sure what to do, there wasn't a 'How to comfort a transiting werewolf' manual, they we're on their own to figure this out. As he falls to his stomach, Adele rushes to his side, dropping down next to him and pulling him into her lap where he wraps his arms around her waist holding her tightly. She runs a hand over his head as Caroline sits next to her. "I'm so sorry you have to go through this." She whispers down to him but he doesn't respond, just lays his head on her knees.

They sit there in silence for a few moments before Caroline speaks up. "I want to help but I don't know what to do."

"T-there's nothing you can do." Tyler breaths out before he removes his arms from Adele. "Move." He gasps and Adele does, crawling back as he tries to push himself up, feeling another wave of pain coming on. Adele is going to stand when his back arches and the bones of his spine crack, moving under the skin causing Adele to let out a small shirk as she falls back to her butt and crawls further away as he lets out a another scream. "Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! Tyler!" Caroline cries and Adele is stunned completely into silence.

"Get out!" Tyler demands to them and Adele shakes her head. She can't just leave him like this. "No." Caroline stands her ground as well. "Get out! I don't want to hurt either of you!" Tyler snaps and Adele shoots forward again to wrap her arms around him as another course of bones breaking comes through, Caroline is right next to her holding him as well and Adele bares her head in his neck, a few stray tears escaping.

He calms down after a moment, resting back against them and they hold onto him tight, Caroline resting her head on his shoulder. Adele's phone buzzes in her pocket and she pulls it out, wondering who would be calling when almost everyone knows what she's doing. There's no surprise when she finds its Damon.

Facing Caroline, she nods down to Tyler and Caroline nods taking her place when she moves away. She answers the phone quickly. "What is it Damon?" She asks and flinches at the sound of her voice. The nasally sound of it along with the crack makes it obvious she's crying.

"I found out who the woman was; another werewolf. Apparently I pissed her off." He huffs and she frowns. "So you meaning to tell me she's dangerous?"

"Yes, I don't know how dangerous but I know she's dangerous. I'm heading home to lock my doors and lay low as Alaric so kindly suggested I do considering she told me that I've been marked."

"Marked as in she's coming after you?" She doesn't have to wait for an answer. "Damon please be careful, if she's out there running free…"

"I'll be fine, don't worry. This isn't the reason I called. How is Tyler doing? How are you? You sound like your crying." Everything behind her that was once silent becomes less silent as she hears Tyler's breathing deepen and speed up and she hears a small crack. "Damon I have to go, I'll stop by later tonight." She hangs up before he can say anything and rushes back over to Tyler. "It's okay…fight through it okay?" She can hear Caroline muttering to him as he begins to shake in her lap.

"Leave…" He groans out softly.

"No." Caroline says stubbornly as Adele shakes her head.

"Please…just go!"

"No Tyler. We're right here and we're not going anywhere." Adele says softly, bending down to run her fingers over his head again. They jump but don't move away as his shoulder popped from its socket. Caroline hugs him once again before he completely turns, popping his shoulder back into place. Adele's eyes widen along with Caroline's as they notice Tyler's eyes have turned from brown to yellow and his teeth have extended. He shuts his eyes groaning in pain before opening them again and Caroline uses her vampire speed to move back all the way to the gate as Adele stumbles as quickly as she can away, when Tyler snaps at them.

"Adele come here!" Caroline yells as Adele is just off to the side of the gate. She watches as Tyler flips around onto his hands and feet looking straight at her. She shirks swinging around into the opening of the gate where Caroline pulls her quickly out and slams the gate just as he lunges for them only getting caught by his chains yanking him back. Seeing that she's struggling with locking the chain to keep the gate closed Adele blindly reaches forward to help her, watching Tyler fight against the chains, her heart is pounding against her rib cages and tears are blurring her eyes.

Tyler seems to realize that he's getting nowhere when struggling so when amazing speed he makes it back over to the one chain holding him back the most and yanks it from the ground. Caroline and Adele are able to get the chain locked just in time to jump away from the gate as he lunges again this time making it to the gate and sticking his arms threw swiping at the air.

"I'm sorry." Caroline mutters to him but he's too far gone to care. "We have to go, come on." Adele breathes out pulling Caroline behind her and out the wooden door where Caroline closes it behind her. Adele wraps her arms around herself sucking in a shaky breath as they listen to him scream. Caroline slides down the door muttering sorry over and over. Adele wills herself to stop crying but she can't. She expected this to be bad, but she wasn't prepared, not in the least bit.

There forced to sit there, listening to him scream for what feels like hours before the screams start to sound a lot like growls and Adele's heart seems to start beating even faster.

Everything seems to freeze as he goes completely quiet and Adele can feel her anxious level rising. At this rate she's going to end up having a heart attack by the time this is over.

Caroline stands up turning back to the door before glancing at her and Adele shakes her head, her way of telling Caroline that she doesn't know what the hell is going on. Caroline stares at the door for a moment before they hear another growl followed by the sound of the gate inside opening. Adele lets off a shirk as she jumps as Tyler slams against the wooden door but before it can open Caroline pushes it closed yelling out Tyler's name.

Recovering from her moment of horror, Adele moves forward to throw her own weight against the door seeing as Caroline was struggling to keep it closed. The wood from where Tyler is hitting against is breaking off and Adele can see teeth, big teeth. "Shit…" She breaths and Caroline grabs the long board used to keep the door closed and slides it into place before grabbing Adele's hand and together they run up the steps, out into the wood and they keep running trying to put as much distance between the quarters and themselves.

~x~

An hour maybe an hour and a half later, Adele and Caroline make their way back towards the quarters. They make their way very slowly, everything is eerily silent. Caroline grabs a hold of her forearm as they reach the door. "Okay…here we go." Caroline mutters pulling the board away from the door and setting it down. "Tyler..." Adele calls before Caroline opens the door and they wait a few seconds for a response.

"Adele…" Adele gasps pushing the door open herself and running in with Caroline right behind her. Caroline grabs his shirt lying a few feet away as Adele drops down behind him pulling him into her lap as Caroline drapes the shirt over his naked waist. "You made it. You didn't get out. You're okay." Caroline soothes dropping down next to Adele. Tyler shakes his head and threw the sweat, they notices his tears. "No I'm not."

Adele bends down, resting her head on top of his as Caroline runs her hand over his arm and they stay like this for a good while before Adele pulls back. "We need to get you home." She whispers and Tyler nods bleakly.

"I'll take him home." Caroline whispers and Adele glances up at her before nodding slowly. "Okay." She glances back down at Tyler. "Are you going to be okay for the night?" He nods again and she kisses his temple before pulling back completely. "I'll call you tomorrow." She says as Caroline helps him up and he sends her a weak smile, holding the shirt around his waist.

As she pulls herself into the car, she fights off more tears. This shouldn't be happening. What she witnessed tonight shouldn't be happening to Tyler, Elena shouldn't be a doppelganger, Caroline shouldn't be a vampire, for the first time since she's returned, she regrets coming home.

~x~

She lets herself into the house slowly and goes forward into the living room but Damon's not there but the window is smashed and a surge of panic rushes through her, causing her to spin on her heels and run for the stairs where she takes them two at time. Turning right at the top she runs to his door and bangs. "Damon!"

The door opens wide not even a minute later and as she takes in the sight of him unharmed she chokes on a sob throwing her small frame into his arms. He's shocked at first but it doesn't stop him from wrapping her tightly in his arms and letting her cry into his shoulder. He doesn't understand what's going on but he wasn't about to question as he pulls her fully into the room and closes the door with his foot.

Her sobs quickly turn into small hiccups and she pulls back from him wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "I'm sorry." She mutters looking at the ground. She could barely believe she let herself break down like that in front of him. "What's wrong?" He asks softly, his tone full of concern as he brushes hair from her face.

"It's just…this whole day as been one nightmare after the next. Tyler…he was in pain, so much pain Damon and I couldn't do anything to help him. He had to suffer and while I just had to stand back and watch and then I saw the broken window and after you told me about that woman, I just I thought something happened to you and I freaked out…"

"Shh…" He pulls her back into him and she bares her face into his chest, inhaling deeply letting his scent surround her, letting it calm her. After a few more minutes she pulls back again, only slightly though to look up at him. "So…you we're scared for my well-being?" Damon smirks and it causes her to laugh. "No Damon." His smirk falls and hers appears. "I was terrified." He smiles down at her and she laughs once more.

Her laughing subsides quickly as her blue eyes meet his and his smile falls as well. The air between them is suddenly very thick and Adele takes a deep shaky breath as she watches his eyes travel from hers to her lips.

He watches as she runs her tongue over her bottom lip before catching the corner of her lip in between her teeth as her eyes fall to his lips as well. Her hands leave his back, running over his hips and to his stomach where she runs them very slowly up over his broad chest and shoulders where she hooks her hands around his neck.

She loses all scene of where she was or even who she was, when his lips touched hers. It was a just a small touch but it sent electricity from her head to her toes and it made her stomach flip in the most remarkable way. Sensing he's going to pull away, her grip on his neck tightens and she pulls him forward, placing a small and soft kiss to his lips and he snaps.

Using his speed, he has them turned around, pushing her back and she gasps as her back hits the door before he kisses her, a kiss that is filled entirely with need and desperation. There was nothing soft or careful about his touches as his hands are drawn to the bare skin of her thighs and he host her right leg up to hook around his hip.

She's barely aware of her actions, kind of like she had no control over her own body, she was vulnerable anyways with her emotions so out of sorts that the minute he actually kissed her, she lost all self-control, all the self-control she mastered to keep him at a distance slipped right through her fingers and her hands began to explode his sweater clad chest and stomach. But she wants more, so she sneaks her hands to the hem of his sweater and slips them under and up his back where he shudders against her touch.

His lips leave hers to trail down her jaw, to her neck and she leans her head back against the door, her eyes shut tight and her breathing harsh. Her heart is once again beating against her rib cage and every kiss, every brush of his lips against her skin sends an unexplainable sensation along every nerve of her body and she clenches to his back, her nails digging into his skin as she tries to hold back a breathy moan but she loses the battle when he nips at her skin and a very low growl erupts from deep in his chest.

So suddenly that she gasps, he springs away from her and across the room, hitting one of the posts to his king sized four posts bed with such force the bed shakes. She presses her palms flat against the surface of the door, her chest rising and falling quickly. With the loss of contact, she's able to focus once again as she stares at Damon across the room. His head is turned away from her, tilted towards the ground, his dark hair falling in front of his eyes. She notices that he's shaking and his fist is tangled into the fabric of his duvet covering the bed.

"Damon…" She breathes taking a shaky step forward. She feels cold with the lack of contact and even though her body is protesting the loss, she's glad he broke away. They couldn't do this. She's surprised though; surprised he was the one to pull away.

"No." He all but snaps and she finds herself even more surprised by the way he's acting. She freezes and watches as the shaking slowly subsides and he lifts his head. His eyes fall on her. "I'm sorry." He whispers.

"What happened?" She asks and he finally let's go of the blanket, standing up straight. "I lost control." He states bluntly and her brows furrow. "What?"

"I lost control Adele, I almost bit you. I don't normally do that." He breathes out, ashamed of himself for not being able to control himself around her. He's always found it hard to do but he's never been so close to actually biting her then he was just then. The second he felt his fangs extend above her pulse point he pushed himself away, he couldn't risk hurting her and he almost did just that.

She nods slowly, shifting from foot to foot. She didn't realize controlling himself was such a problem. She's known him to have amazing self-control; it was strange to think he could lose it so easily. "I don't get what it is with you…" She's taken back by his declaration as he moves forward, back towards her. "What are you talking about?"

"You don't get it yet? When have you known me to lose my self-control Kitten?" She backs up as he continues towards her.

"Are you saying that you losing control is my fault?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying." He growls as he backs her back up against the door. She braces her palms against his chest. "Damon…" It looks like he doesn't have any plans on backing down as he tilts his head to look at her. "Damon, I meant what I said last night." She blurts and he freezes pulling his head back to get a better look at her. "What?"

"Last night, what I told you. I meant it Damon." He backs up nodding slowly.

"You kind of ran away from me before giving me the chance to say something." She doesn't say anything, just looks up at him. "You're not ready yet and that's fine. I told you I wouldn't pressure you and I meant it but I don't want anyone else. I like Rose but not like that and there is nobody else and I don't think there ever could be. I'm willing to wait."

"But I don't want you to. You're so unhappy and I know you are, don't try to deny it. I want you to be happy and I'm not making you happy because I can't give myself to you. So all I'm saying is that if you do find someone you think can make you happy, just go with it." Has much as she hates to do it, it's about time they had this conversion. She knew it was bound to come.

"Kitten…"

"I mean it Damon. I'm not going to change my mind."

"Oh I know. Your so freaking stubborn its frustrating." He huffs before running a hand through his hair and looking down at her. "I happy with you around Adele, I don't think you realize but this isn't just about wanting you all to myself, you've become my best friend, I'm a 160 something year old vampire and I've never had a real friend, nobody that I could trust as much as I trust you."

"That's because you never let anyone in. You sit here and call Stefan brooding but your pretty brooding yourself at least Stefan had someone, of course that is until you killed her." Damon cracks a smile. "You did not just compare me to Stefan."

Adele nods. "I did. I don't think you realize Damon and I think I've told you this before but I don't want to live in a life without you. You've been my back board for a while now. Every time I need you your there, so basically your never getting rid of me."

"And I'll take that…for now." She smiles up at him and steps into his outstretched arms, allowing him to hug her tightly. Maybe now everything could go back to normal between them, maybe they could do back to spending nights doing nothing but watching bad T.V, eating everything that isn't healthy for you and joking around till the early morning.

A knock on the bedroom door breaks them apart and Adele glances back at the door in confusion. "I might have forgotten to mention that Rose is back and she kind of got bit tonight by that werewolf."

"Oh my god." Adele looks up at him. "But she healed, so I guess you we're wrong about it being fatal." She narrows her eyes slightly and shakes her head. "I wasn't wrong Damon." Walking away from him, she swings the door open to come face to face with Rose.

"It's true you know, I did heal." Rose smiles slightly and Adele's furrows her eyebrows at her. "Have you checked the bite?" She asks softly. "Not since I got out of the shower, it was fine then."

"Check it now." Rose frowns at Damon over Adele's shoulder and he shrugs and nods, telling her to do as she says. Rose sighs and pulls down the sleeve of her rope, exposing her shoulder. "I can't see so…" She turns and Adele's eyes widen and Damon comes up quickly behind her, his eyes studying the bubbling skin where Rose had been bitten early. "Oh my god." He mutters looking down at Adele who looks back up at him. Adele bites her lip looking back to Rose's shoulder. Adele had left out a part of her bonfire story back when they first learned about werewolves at Duke. The part where an old friend of Tony's had gotten bit by the wolf who attacked them and they all became witness to the slow and painful death that followed. Even though she didn't like Rose all that much before, she couldn't say she deserved this.

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><p><strong>So what did you think? James and Adele finally had their meeting and now you know what he wanted but we all know Adele and we know she's not falling into that but what future trouble could that mean for her? And a much needed conversion between Adele and Damon has finally happened but how long can this little unsaid truce of theirs last? I guess you'll have to wait and find out. (; <strong>

**I really hope you liked this chapter. Please review. (: **


	27. Chapter 27

**Something you should know in reading this chapter, both parts in **_**italics **_**are her dream, just letting you know before hand, so you don't get confused while reading it. I don't think I kept you waiting too long for this chapter and I worked hard on it so I hope you like it. Please tell me what you think. **

**One more thing, I've just realized that this story is quickly coming to an end at least in my mind. I have 10 episodes left in season 2 to write out and then we're done. I've mentioned it before and I'll mention it again, season 2's finale will be the last chapter of What Doesn't Kill You. I've got the whole thing planned out in my head and I almost can't wait for it to finally come but then again I can because I love writing this story for you guys. Weather I do a squeal is completely up to you guys but I'll ask you more about that when the time comes. **

**Anyways, please review and tell me what you think. The more reviews the better of course. (: **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

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><p><strong>Chapter 27: The Decedent<strong>

She pushes on, her feet beating against the pavement as she jogs back up the driveway towards the Boarding House. After waking up next to Damon close to 4 this morning, she decided it was time for her to get back into jogging every morning so after changing into a sports bra, a pair of basketball shorts and a pair of sneakers she had left over there; she quickly slipped from the room surprisingly without waking Damon up.

Now returning close to 7, she's not sure if he's awake yet or not but she was about to find out as she slips into the house, closing the door behind her with a soft click. Instead of heading upstairs, she heads to the kitchen, to grab herself another water bottle from the fridge.

Closing the fridge back up after grabbing a water bottle and a tiny vile of vervain made into liquid form, she turns only to jump back and gasps pressing a hand over her heart. "God damn it! Damon, don't do that! Major horror movie moment right there okay?" His grin is wide, he hadn't come down there when he heard her come in to frighten her but it sure was funny.

"Think of my surprise when I woke up and you weren't there. I searched for you everywhere in this house until I had the good sense to check my phone, so how was your jog?" Adele laughs, slipping the vile into her pocket before he notices and unscrewing the top of the water bottle and taking along swig from it before answering. "Exhausting. Who knew just a few weeks of not jogging could get me so out of shape?"

Damon raises an eyebrow at her, a frown replacing his smirk. "You did not just say that."

"I did just say that." Adele nods and his head begins to shakes as his eyes travel down the length of her body. Her tanned skin glistened in the dim lighting from a thin coat of sweat and because she's wearing a sports bra he had full view of her beautifully toned stomach and even though the basketball shorts she wore covered most of her legs, he still knew that they we're perfectly thin and strong. "While I would love to stand here and let you admire my body all day, I need a shower."

Damon's eyes come back up to meet hers and he shakes his head slightly before smirking and stepping aside letting her pass him. She's coming up to the bottom of the stairs when she feels herself being lifted from the ground. She shirks as he throws her up before he's catching her with an arm under her knees and an arm around her back. Her eyes are tightly closed, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. Opening her eyes, she's met with his smirking face. "You asshole! Oh my god, I thought I was going to die!"

Damon makes a sort of tisking sound as he starts up the stairs. "Do you really think I'd let you die?"

"I really hope not." She giggles letting him carry her towards his bedroom.

"I'm hurt that you don't have faith where I'm concerned." He smirks as he enters the still dark bedroom.

"Faith, trust and pixie dust." She giggles again, throwing her head back as she does and Damon's laugh echo's through the hall before he closes the door to his bedroom.

~x~

Towel drying her hair, she walks in from the bathroom to see Damon laying on the bed fully dressed and ready for the day a head, dropping her hands to her sides, she watches him carefully, thinking about a text Elena sent to her late last night.

"You're staring at me."

"I am." She laughs moving over to his collection of liquor by the window.

"Why?" Taking out the vile of vervain, she takes a bottle of bourbon and pops it open quickly before taking the vile and opening it as well. "I'm thinking." She answers simply as she pours only some of the vervain into the bottle before swirling it around, mixing it up.

"About?" Damon asks trying to peek at what she's doing from the bed. She pours a small amount of the bourbon into a cup before turning back to him.

She crawls up on the bed being careful not to spill any of the drink in her hand and Damon sits up, letting her curl her legs up underneath her and lean against his side and the pillows behind them. "Take a sip of this, just a really small sip though." He takes the cup from her slowly, eyeing it carefully and she rolls her eyes. "Trust me." He raises an eyebrow. "You didn't put any pixie dust in this did you?" He asks recalling her early comment about faith and trust and she laughs. "Where would I get pixie dust Damon? Just take a damn sip."

Damon does, taking a small sip like she instructed before pulling back and shrugging at her. She takes the cup just as he lets out a struggled cough and leans forward against the burn spreading through his insides. She rubs soothing circles on his back waiting for him to recover.

"What the hell?" He groans out and she drinks the rest of what's in the cup. "Vervain." She mutters past the burning trail that the whiskey leaves in its wake.

"Really? I hadn't noticed. Why did you give me that?" She smiles down at him. "Elena sent me a text last night, Stefan's out of the tomb."

Damon frowns up at her. "What?"

"Elena made a deal with Elijah, something about not outing herself and he'll protect everyone and what not, I don't know I'm sure they can explain it better. She asked for him to get the tomb spell lifted and he did."

Damon seems to be taking this information in before something occurs to him. "Katherine…" Adele nods. "That is we're the vervain comes in. Elijah compelled Katherine to stay in the tomb."

"What? How? Vampires can't compel other vampires. It's impossible."

"Yeah, well it probably has something to do with him being an original. There are probably a lot of things he can do that we don't know about but now that gives you a weakness that we know about and that we can do something about. You can build up a tolerance to vervain like Katherine did."

"Do I have to? It hurts." He pouts and Adele sighs sliding down to rest her head on his chest so she can listen to his heart beat and trace patterns on his stomach. "Do it for me." She whispers and his head falls back against the head board with his eyes closed. He feels her shift and upon opening his eyes and looking down at her, he finds her chin resting on his chest and her blue eyes wide, her bottom lip pushed out ever so slightly. "Please."

"Fine." He groans and she smiles moving to rest her cheek back on the hard surface of his chest. His fingers run themselves through her damp hair, stopping to untangle the knots he comes across. "I've missed this."

"Mhm." Adele mummers her agreement closing her eyes and enjoying the feeling of his fingers brushing through her hair and snuggling closer to his side. "I could stay right here all day." She agrees with him once more but slowly starts to move away. "Whoa. Where are you going?" She laughs.

"You need to go check on Rose. I'm sure she's awake by now. You need to go see how she's doing; she must be in a lot of pain by now."

"Yeah about that…" Adele stops moving from the bed to look back at him. "I have to go do something today, can you watch after her…I know it's a lot to ask seeing as you two don't see eye to eye but I'm going to ask Elena to help as well…I just…I don't want to leave her alone." Not that she was going to but how could she possibly say no him when he looks at her with that desperate 'please help me' look.

"Yeah, okay."

~x~

Damon left her to finish getting ready while he went to check on Rose and since it would seem she wasn't going to be leaving the house today she decided to change out of the Jeans and T-shirt she was originally planning on wearing. Slipping the clothes off, she hangs them back up in her side of Damon's closet before going over to her drawer in his dresser. Opening it, she pushes past a couple pairs of undies and bras before grabbing the tank top and PJ shorts she's looking for.

Every time she came to stay the night at the boarding house, she would bring over clothes as well weather she ended up wearing them the next day or not which most of the time she didn't which is how she ended up with so many clothes at the boarding house in the first place. At this point her wardrobe is split between her own room and Damon's room and she figures at some point in the future she's going to end up just moving in with him.

Throwing on the shorts and tank top, she pulls the locket –She's still not even sure where it came from– out the tank top and moves to the bathroom, where she gazes into the mirror trying to decide what she should do with her still drying hair. Her cell phone rings on the counter next to the sink and she quickly picks it up. "Hello?"

"Hey."

"Hey Ty. How are you?"

"Sore but otherwise okay. How are you?"

"I'm not the one who went through a painful transition into a wolf last night Tyler, I'm fine." She laughs as she flips her head side to side, her hair going every which direction. She could straighten it, she hasn't done that in a while and not just because the only good straightener she has, is under the sink of the bathroom she is standing in and not in her own bathroom, so the option is there but not at all appealing because then she would have to blow dry it and everything else and she just doesn't have the patients for that right now.

"I know, I just thought I would ask. You seemed upset when you left last night."

"It was just hard having to watch you go through that. I'm just glad you're okay. Did Caroline take good care of you after I left?" Narrowing her eyes at her reflection, she thinks maybe she should just let it dry naturally and leave it down.

"Yeah she did." He laughs but it quickly subsides and she knows something is weighing on his mind. "What is it Tyler?" He doesn't have to ask how she knows something is wrong, she of course just does. One of the benefits or downfalls –whichever way you decided to look at it– of being friends for as long as they have.

Once again, she's tilting her head from side to side, examining closely the way her hair is drying. By the looks of it, her hair is going to dry into a shaggy blonde mess today and she huffs. Leaving it to dry naturally was officially not an option.

"I think…I just…"

"Spit it out."

"I think I might be falling for Caroline." He declares and Adele freezes, her head tilted to the right and her eyes staring wide at her reflection. All hair problems forgotten, she's struggling for a response. Out of all the things Tyler could have told her, that was the one thing she didn't expect to hear…ever.

"We are still talking about Caroline Forbes right? The girl you found extremely annoying through-out most of our childhood?"

"I didn't find her annoying…I just…"

"Yes you did!" Adele exclaims turning away from her reflection in a huff. "You would rant for hours about how stuck up and annoying she was. You called her the life sized Barbie and teased her about how nobody was ever going to willingly be her Ken." She hears Tyler snort back a laugh.

"I only did that a handful of times."

"Because every time you did, I would punch you, it was mean. You very mean to her growing up and now you say you're falling for her? Tyler…after all these years are you telling me you want to be her Ken?"

"I wouldn't put it like that. She's all hung up on Matt right now…"

"Oh yeah I know." She cuts him off. "We talked all about that while we we're waiting in the woods until we could go back to you without you eating us."

"I'm sorry about that…" Tyler sighs and Adele laughs it off. "What's there to be sorry about? It's not like you could help it." Focusing her eyes on the large tub across the bathroom, she takes a deep breath. "Listen Ty, if you need anything just call. I'm not saying I will be able to up and leave because I have something real important I need to do today but I will try to help anyway I can."

"Okay." They say their goodbyes and slowly Adele turns back to the mirror deciding her best option is to just throw her hair up into a bun at the top of her head.

~x~

She pads barefoot down the stairs and makes her way into the room she knows there in and stops seeing Damon standing over Rose. "Yeah, it does feel like it's working." She must be referring to blood in the blood bag Damon is holding in his hand. "Let's have a look, come on." Damon says and slowly Rose turns allowing him to pull down the sleeve of her grey sweater and Adele's eyes widen at the sight of the spreading infection on her shoulder. "How is it?" Rose asks. Damon struggles for an answer.

"Diffidently…better." He finally says before his eyes move up to meet hers and her sisters who had come up next to her, giving Adele a puzzled look like she didn't expect to see her here. "Right…Girls?" Damon asks and Elena's eyes move over to Rose's back and her eyes widen just like Adele's had. Rose slowly turns to look at them as well and Elena speaks up seeing as Adele has no intentions to. She wasn't about to lie to the woman. "Uh…it's not bad."

"Where's Stefan?" Damon whispers to Elena, like it's some sort of huge secret he doesn't want anyone else to hear though he's halfway across the room and everyone heard him. "He left. I need you to talk to him. He's convinced that he has to find Isobel." Adele tenses next to her sister at the mention of her Vampire birth mother.

"No can do. I'm with Stefan on this one but if you could help your sister play nurse for a little while…"

"It's not necessary…" Rose cuts him off but Damon scoffs.

"It is necessary. Elena's a do gooder, it's in her nature and Adele…She's already agreed, she can't back out now well she could but she's not going to." Adele sends Rose a half smirk before following behind Damon who is rushing towards the door. Elena follows them as well. Before Adele can say anything Elena does. "Damon…" He stops turning back to look at them. "Is she going to die?" Elena whispers and Adele looks between them, a blunt yes forming on her lips but she holds back from saying it.

"Probably. The wolf bite caused some kind of infection and it's getting worse." He whispers back to answer her question and Elena frowns up at him. "Like poison?" She asks again and Damon shrugs.

"I don't know Elena." He bites back, obviously irritated with her questions. "I'm not an expert in this field."

"I'm sorry." She breaths and Damon's eyes move to Adele, who is quiet beside them before looking back at her.

"Death happens. We come, we go. As soon as she dies, the better." His tone is cold and detached and Adele sighs. His mood had turned sour quickly since early but she couldn't really blame him for it. He cares about Rose wither he would attempt it or not and he won't which annoys her slightly because he still to this day thinks he some big monster, that's not capable of doing good, so he pushes everyone away but he hadn't pushed her away and she was able to see just how much he's come to care, Elena on the other hand can't and her expression shows her disbelief as she looks up at him.

"It's gloomy as hell in here." He mutters before making a pass for the door and Adele mentions for Elena to leave. Once she's gone, Adele calls his name and he stops again.

Walking up to him she sighs. "Be careful. It might not be a full moon but you don't know how dangerous she could be." Damon's expression shows his mask confusion. "Oh please Damon. I'm not stupid. I know exactly what you're rushing out to do. Hopefully, she'll know of a cure and be willing to give it to you but please be careful." Damon nods slowly and she sends him a small smile before turning and walking back, deeper into the house.

~x~

After giving Rose another 30 minutes to sit by the fire, Adele demands she get up telling her she needs to lie down. Rose makes the request to lie down in Damon's room and while Elena had looked to Adele for a bad reaction to the request, Adele had simply agreed and ushered her up the stairs slowly. It was no secret that Damon's bed is the most comfortable out of any of the beds in the house and the woman is dying, and while everyone who knows Adele knows she's very much possessive, if there was ever a time to put all possessive feelings aside, it was now and that is what she's doing, for the sake of Rose's comfort.

Elena trails behind the two with Rose's glass and the open blood bag as they finally make it to the room. "I hate this. I'm a vampire, I haven't had a cold in 5 centuries." Adele doesn't exactly respond to the comment as she helps Rose into the bed, slowly pulling off her sweater as well. "We don't get sick. When we die it's fast and sudden and it certainly isn't drawn out with an illness."

Rose shifts to lie down and get comfortable while Adele pushes the blankets over her and Elena moves to set down the cup and blood bag. "You're not going to die." And Adele's eyes shift to glare at Elena. "Such a human thing to say." Rose mumbles, Adele moves over to the blood, pouring some from the bag into the cup as Elena takes her place in tucking Rose in as her eyes start to wonder.

She had never been in Damon's room before. It's huge. Much bigger and much roomer then Stefan's and very neat, with only a few stacks of books cluttered near the bedside table. "You've never been in Damon's room before have you?" Rose asks Elena as she takes in the way the young girl looks around with a look of some form of amazement on her pretty face. Rose has been in the room once but the sight of it when she looks around –especially the bathroom– still took her breath away.

But both Elena and Rose seem to notice how at home the blonde in the room is as she moves around freely, drawing the curtains, picking up a pair of black pajama pants –obviously Damon's– from the floor on the other side of the bed and moving towards the bathroom where she blindly throws them into the corner of the bathroom, into a laundry basket they can't see before she goes over to the dresser and opens the very bottom drawer where she knows he keeps extra blankets.

As Adele comes over, to place the blankets on the bed as Elena picks up the first book in the stack of books closest to her. By the surprised expression on her face, she obviously wasn't expecting the title of the book to be 'Gone with the Wind'.

"Not what you we're expecting?" Rose asks and Elena puts the book back down. "It's just a room with a bed." Elena retorts and Adele scuffs. A room with a bed that smells exactly like Damon. Everything about the room screams Damon's name but Elena doesn't know Damon enough to know that, even if she argues that she does. "Maybe I expected there to be silk sheets." Elena adds as an afterthought.

"There in the hallway closet." Adele mummers unfolding one of the blankets as Elena and Rose turn to look at her. "What?" Elena asks and Adele sighs. "Silk sheets might look nice and sure they can be a luxury every once in a while but they get quite annoying very fast, so I stripped them off and replaced them with cotton sheets like a month ago, there in the hallway closet." Rose snickers as Elena shakes her head.

"You girls are lucky, you know. No one has ever loved me the way you two are loved." Elena takes to sitting on the edge of the bed and she can't tell just how comfortable the bed is but she has a pretty good idea. "I doubt that." Elena mummers.

"Trevor was my best friend. Nothing more, we spent all those years on the run from Elijah. I just never thought it was a good idea to set up roots. The whole idea of family it's not exactly compatible with being a vampire." The comment struck a nerve Rose can see, in both of them.

Sure Adele has given thought to having a family one day in the future but those thoughts we're not very in depth. Not as in depth as Elena's. Adele had always figured if she's going to have a family one day, it'll happen. She'll just wait until that day, it wasn't until she fell in love with Tony that she realized, if she stays with a vampire for the rest of her life, babies are not an option. She had always pushed the thought from her mind when it came up that but now it was back full force and she need to find a way to push it to the back of her mind.

Elena turns away from Rose to grab the glass of blood while Adele turns to head back into the bathroom to wet a washcloth with cold water, to try and help bring down Rose's fever. "Why are you so eager to give up?" The question catches Elena by surprise and she sends a quick glance towards the bathroom where Adele is standing at the sink. Since that day she used her sister to get over to Slater's to try and hand herself over, Adele has barley spoken to her besides that one time yesterday when Adele all but bit her head off over the phone.

"I'm not giving up on anything, here." Elena hands the glass off to Rose, who takes it slowly. "What do you call this deal with Elijah?"

"I call it my best option." Adele had long since soaked the washcloth but was now just standing with her hands rested against the counter, just listening to the conversion from the other room.

"Your easiest option." Rose points out.

"That's not fair."

"You really think your witch friend destroyed the moon stone?"

"I spoke with Bonnie; I know that she had the help of another witch. Assuming it's Elijah's witch so…no I don't."

"You really are determined to die aren't you? At least I ran…you're not even trying." Rose hands the cup back snuggling closer into the pillows. "I'm so tired." Elena stands from the bed slowly and begins to move away while Adele comes to the massive open doorway to the bathroom. "No wait…stop." Elena stops and Adele looks over to Rose, who is holding out a hand.

"Tell them to prepare the horses." Adele lets out a long sigh. Here comes what has to be one of the worst parts of a werewolf bite. Dementia. She had witnessed it in Tony's friend, when he had broken out of the house and attacked a hiker from the woods not too far from their house. Tony had come up in front of him while he held the poor girl by the throat and tried to calm him down; the man had started ranting to Tony in Russian and to Adele's surprise Tony had fired right back at him, because has it would turn out Tony was born and raised in Russia.

"It's okay Rose, just get some sleep. You'll feel better." Elena ensures and Adele is going to have to have a word with her sister about false hope.

"Trevor, don't be so stupid. We'll never make it before the sun…" Slowly Rose breaks off and leans forward, clenching at her Stomach. "Blood. I need more blood." Elena rushes forward to hand her the cup and sit back down while Rose takes a large gulp only to pull the cup away and choke it back up, onto the bed beside her and Adele returns to the sink to rewet the washcloth. Elena pops up beside her. "Don't leave her in there alone." Adele snaps but it's too late as Elena moves back into the room and Rose is gone.

Elena frowns at the empty bed before turning around and gasping. She doesn't have time to move away as Rose grabs her throwing her against the wall behind them. "It's all your fault Katharina!"

Adele runs into the room, having heard the commotion and Rose yelling. "You Katharina! You did this!"

"Rose, it's Elena! Rose, Rose…" Elena yells as Adele stands stunned. "You betrayed us!"

"She's not Katherine!" Adele finally yells and she can see Rose's grip loosen and she starts to back away. "Elena?" Elena nods still pressed against the wall.

"Oh my god, Elena I'm so sorry. I don't know what's happening to me." Adele reaches up to run a hand through her hair, the small rush of fear that her sister was going to get hurt fading as Elena holds out a hand stepping towards Rose, who is still backing away, towards the bed. "It's alright, you're going to be alright."

Rose turns away from them. "My mind…I'm…."

"It was just for a second."

"I'm sorry…don't be scared of me." Rose pleads as she turns back to look at Elena who reassures her right away that she isn't and tells her she needs to rest as she crawls back into the bed. "I'm scared." Rose whimpers and Adele finally moves away from the spot she's still standing in. "You're not alone. We're right here." Adele's voice is gentle but firm and while it clams her slightly, she forgets where she is. "Here? Where's here?"

Elena forces her back down as she tries to sit up. "Damon's bedroom, you're in Damon's bedroom."

Tears begin to well up in her eyes as she looks around. "I want to go home." Adele's not sure what to make of that, she's not completely sure how to deal with the tears and with Elena being the more sentimental one of the two, she leaves them to go fetch clean sheets and suddenly, she understands why Damon wanted them both to look after her. It was so Elena could help Rose deal with the emotional part of dying and Adele could actually nurse her. They made a pretty good team, her and her sister but that didn't change the fact Adele wanted nothing to do with her at the moment.

~x~

She's pulling a pair of cotton sheets from the top of the hall closet at the far end of the hall when Elena comes up next to her and Adele doesn't bother to look at her. "Go back in there. Don't leave her alone." It had only just occurred to Adele, being alone in the silent hallway that having Elena here wasn't such a good idea. She looks like Katherine a woman that had brought on a lot of pain in Rose's past. With Rose now sick, it was a dangerous situation for the both of them but more so for Elena and Adele was trying to figure out a subtle way of telling her to leave.

"What was that in there? When Rose attacked me? I know you know. I could see it on your face."

Adele hands the sheets off to Elena, so she can grab a few more blankets. "Dementia." She answers simply and Elena sends her a confused look causing Adele to sigh and finally turn to her. "She's losing her mind Elena. She's dying."

"She's not going to…"

"Yes she is. You're once again Naïve to think otherwise. Werewolf bites are fatal to a vampire, I've witnessed it first-hand. It's not pretty. It's drawn out with nothing but pain and suffering and the humane thing to do would be to shove a stake through her heart. It's what Tony did to the vampire who got bit after it became clear to us, he was just going to die anyways and the only reason I haven't done it yet is because Damon wants to believe he can fix it but I highly doubt it. Damon's going to need to be the one to do it."

"Adele…do you understand how heartless you sound right now? There's a line between mean and plain out cruel and you've crossed that line."

"Believe me Elena when I tell you that I want nothing more than for Damon to walk through that door down stairs and tell us he found a cure and that she's going to be okay but I don't see it happening and I've seen this before Elena and I have no interest in seeing it again but I'm doing it for Damon. You know what's cruel? Continuing to tell her she's going to be okay. That she's going to make it. That's cruel." And in all her Adele like fashion, she walks away leaving Elena to stare after her, while she moves back towards the room. Slowly Elena starts to follow.

Coming into the room Elena announces she's got clean sheets before spotting Adele just standing there staring at the bed. Looking over Elena eyes widen.

Rose is gone.

~x~

They left the room to go in search of her and after a good 20 minutes or so they find her in the basement, in front of the freezer Damon stores the blood bags and Rose has one in her hands, squeezing the blood into her mouth smearing blood across her face and hands while all around her are empty blood bags plus the one Elena is holding in her hand that they found coming in. Rose suddenly turns to them. "Oh god…" Adele mutters as she is in front but Rose still has a clear view of Elena and her eyes lock on her right away. "Katharina." She growls and Adele spins around pushing Elena back. "Run!"

Elena whips around darting for the stairs as Adele pushes an old door in Rose's path giving them a 5 second head start to file back into the actually house and they make way for the closed double doors that would lead them half way to safety but there locked, why they are locked, Adele has no idea. There's no reason for them to be locked!

Turning Adele shields Elena's body with her own as they move back, away from Rose who baring her fangs at them, her eyes never leaving Elena. "Rose! She's not Katherine! She's not Katherine." Elena's fingers are tangled tightly in the fabric of her sister's tank top and her heart is beating fast against her rib cage as Adele holds out a hand trying to ward off Rose. Rose seems to calm for a second, the veins under her eyes disappearing as she looks at them and Adele pushes Elena away from her. "Leave." Adele demands quietly and while Elena wants to say no, while she wants to stomp her feet and exclaim that she didn't always have to throw herself in front of her and risk her own life, she doesn't. She wouldn't win anyways.

Elena takes off as Rose lunges catching Adele by the shoulders but Adele lays her palms flat against Rose's own shoulders and pushes with all her strength surprised when the 500 and something year old vampire stumbles back from her, also surprised but she recovers quickly going for her again, this time catching Adele's outstretched wrist and using it as leverage to swing her around, practically throwing her into the wall beside them.

The back of her head bounces off the wall, leaving a small dent before she crashes to the ground, her head bouncing off the wooden floors as well and her vision blurs and black dots dance before her. Her world is spinning in and out of focus as she tries to get the will power to stand up. As if from a very far distance she can hear the sound of Rose screaming and footsteps before a door slamming from upstairs.

She needs to get up, she needs to go protect Elena but she can't move. All she can do is fight the pull of the darkness because it wants to take her. It wants to wrap around her and drag her down but she just can't let it. Reaching out a hand, she grabs a hold of the rug and pulls her body moving across the floor slightly.

Another reason she can't let the darkness take her under is because she knows from the impact of her head hitting the wall and then hitting the floor and how she suddenly feels very tired and very sick, she has a concussion; there is no doubt about it.

It feels like something is trickling down her face, something warm and sticky. Reaching a shaky hand up, she touches the side of her forehead at her hair line and winces. She pulls her hand away and brings it over, into her line of vision. Blood, bright red blood coats the tips of her two middle fingers and without warning the darkness consumes her and her head falls to the side, hitting the floor once again with a soft thud.

~x~

"_Adele…Adele!" Her eyes spring open and she finds herself staring into the worried face of her sister. "You totally zoned out. I thought you passed out standing up for a minute there. Are you okay?" She straightens up from leaning on the counter and brushes her hair from her face. "Uh, yeah, I'm just distracted, I'm sorry. What we're you saying?" _

"_I was saying that Stefan is making me dinner tonight and then we're going out dancing with Caroline and Tyler. You should come with us." _

"_Stefan is going dancing?" Adele laughs causing Elena to shake her head with a hint of a smile. "Yes he's going dancing. It took three hours of begging and a few…favors to convince him to go but yes he is." _

"_You know, I would love to go but I can't. I promised Jasmine I would stay in with her tonight and watch The Notebook. Apparently Mickey has done something wrong again. I'm not sure what just yet, but I have a pretty good idea." Elena nods. She can take a wild guess as well if it's something Michael did. "He's taking another trip cross country." Elena suggests and Adele nods. "Probably." She loves her friends and she's happy that they're together but it was about time they learned how to work through their problems._

"_I don't see why she just doesn't go with him. It's not like he hasn't asked her to go, she just won't." _

"_She's been a runaway since she was 15; this is the longest she's stayed in any town. She's sick of traveling. I'm going to talk to her though. See if I can't get her to change her mind. She loves him, she'll go when she realizes he might love her to but he's not about to give up his music." Adele explains. _

_Elena studies her sister carefully. She looks almost…sad. "Are you sure you're okay? You look kind of depressed." _

_Adele picks at the sandwich in front of her, trying to avoid her sister's knowing eyes. "They asked him to extend his trip." She finally mutters and a look of understanding flashes across Elena's face. _

"_Oh that's right. He was supposed to be home yesterday wasn't he? How could I forget, Stefan told me." _

"_Yeah well, he's not coming home for another two weeks." _

"_I'm sure if he had a choice, he'd be home right away." Elena defends softly and Adele finally looks back to at her. _

"_I'm not mad, I just miss him." _

_Elena didn't bring the topic back up. Her sister didn't get sad over guys, she didn't let them upset her but enter Damon Salvatore and Adele's world suddenly revolves around him. In all her relationships in high school, her relationship with Michael, her brief fling with Bruce and the few other brief flings she's had including some guy named Tony she had meant when visiting there aunt in Florida one year, she never gave them her all. She held herself back, she always had one foot out the door but with Damon, even though it took some time she jumped and he caught her, they've been together ever since._

_They got married a little over 6 months after finally getting together and Elena had never seen her sister as happy as she was when she was with Damon but without him, there always seemed to be a piece of her missing and that is what she noticed now as they moved from the kitchen and into the living room where Adele lounges back on the big deep brown leather couch, watching some show. Elena's not sure she even knows what she's watching let along actually paying attention. _

_It's not that she can't function without him no she can function just fine without him, it just she misses him when he's gone. These business trips can go from anywhere to a couple days to 2 months. He's her husband, she has a right to miss him if she wants to when he's gone for a long period of time and so far he's been gone for two weeks which has quickly turning into four weeks now that he had to extend his stay. _

_Adele's IPhone pings loudly next to her on the couch and she reaches over to pick it up. She's getting an alert. Opening it up, it brings up a screen, kind of like she had just opened up a video chat, only it wasn't a video chat. _

"_Is she awake?" Adele glances up at Elena before nodding and pushing herself from the couch. "Finally. I've been counting down the minutes." Elena laughs and Adele sends her a smile as she exits the room. _

_Adele pushes open the door to the bedroom right next to her own, smiling when she's met with the sight before her. On the right side of the room, is a dark wooden crib the baby girl_ _occupying it has pulled herself up by the bars and is bouncing up and down, cooing and giggling at Adele. _

_Scarlett Mary Salvatore was born 5 and a half months ago. Growing up, nobody thought it would be Adele to be the first to start a family but she had shocked everyone in announcing she was marrying Damon Salvatore, Stefan's older brother and a man Adele had hated when she first met him. Nobody thought it would last, considering how quickly they jumped into it but two months after being married Adele ended up pregnant shocking them even more. _

_Adele moves forward, towards the baby who is still cooing at her. The day she was born Adele had been so amazed looking down at her. She had come out with a full head of dark hair and stunning blue eyes. As she started to grow Adele noticed more about her resemblance to Damon and herself. She has his nose and his lips, along with the shape of his eyebrows but she has her eyes and her high cheekbones. Her hair remanded dark and thick with a slight curl to it. _

"_Hey baby girl." Adele smiles bending down to scoop her up and hug her tightly. She takes her over to the changing table and begins to change her diaper. "Aunt Lena is here, but then again what's new?" The baby's eyes watched her closely as she talked and Adele had always wondered if her daughter actually listened to her when she'd talk to her. It always seemed like she was. _

_When she's done changing her, she picks her back up and begins out the room, ready to make her lunch. "Dada." Adele's steps waver slightly before she smiles down at her, it never got old when she would call out for him. Dada was one of the only words her daughter could say at this point not that Adele was surprised. She was the ultimate Daddy's girl. "He's not home yet baby but not to worry. I'm sure he'll come home soon." _

~x~

Adele wasn't answering her phone and neither was Elena. With no hope for finding a way to save Rose and worried about the girls, he heads home. Coming up to the house, the first thing he notices is the front door. It's wide open and he frowns. His gut begins to twist in the most uncomfortable way as his mind starts to come up with all kinds of different ideas of what could be wrong inside the house. He steps hesitantly though the open door, peering around cautiously.

He's coming towards the stairs when it hits him, the smell of blood and a lot of it. Turning he follows the smell, at this point his nerves are completely shot as he moves closer and closer to the basement. There wasn't any sign of life in the house; it was so eerily quiet that if anyone was actually in the house, he half expected them to be dead. The thought is so terrifying, he's close to trembling.

Turning the corner his steps die down and he stops breathing, completely freezing in the doorway. He's having a hard time processing what he's seeing but once he does, he sprints forward and drops down beside her flipping her over onto her back before pulling her into his lap. His eyes run over her completely, from the gash on her head to the still forming bruise on her wrist. His fingers run lightly over the small gash that has stopped bleeding long ago but it had left a path of drying blood down the side of her beautiful face. His fingers trail down the path of blood to her neck where he checks for bite marks and in finding none he breathes a sigh of relief.

Looking up his eyes find a pretty decent sized dent in the wall above them, she's clearly only knocked out which means her head must've hit the wall and hard from the looks of it. Besides the gash, the bruise and a possible concussion, she seems fine. He just needs her to wake up, if she does have a concussion he doesn't need her falling into a coma; that is if she wasn't already in one. He would never be able to forgive himself if that's the case.

"Adele…" He whispers, his fingers brushing hair off her shoulder. She doesn't respond, doesn't even stir in the slightest. "Come on, Kitten. You need to wake up." He says his fingers running across the front of her neck, her smooth skin is slightly cold and he swallows when she doesn't move. "Alright, fine. Be like that." Shifting, he quickly stands up, clenching her tightly in his arms. Her head resting against his chest and her arms folding across her stomach, he begins back towards the front of the house.

As the front door comes into view so does Elena, who is staring at it as he had left it open. As if sensing someone behind her, she spins around with a gasps and her eyes widen to the size of quarters as she looks between him and Adele. She looks like she wants to say something but can't find the words. "What happened?" Damon all but snaps and Elena swallows her eyes leaving Adele to look up at him.

"Rose…she, she attacked me because she thought I was Katherine, we left the room for a minute and when we came back she was gone. We found her in the basement and she came after us because once again, she thought I was Katherine. Adele told me to run and I did. I locked myself in Stefan's room."

Damon stares at her. Why hadn't he expected that answer? Adele seemed to be always throwing herself into the line of fire when it came to Elena so it should have been expected that that is exactly what went down. Damon finds himself wanting to start a rant about it. He wants to yell at Elena for leaving her alone with Rose when she was obviously out powered, he wanted to tell the other Gilbert to start sticking up for herself instead of letting Adele take a blow just to give her a head start even if it's only by a few seconds but he doesn't instead he looks around. "Where is Rose?" He finally asks and Elena reaches up to run a hand through her hair. "I don't know."

_Great, this is just great. _He thinks to himself as he turns, moving to the stairs. "Where are you going?" Elena calls after him. "To lay her down, I can't carry her around all night now that I have to go find Rose."

"I wouldn't put her in your room." He stops halfway up the stairs. "Why not?" He calls down to her, not bothering with turning around. "Rose was in your bed, she kind of coughed up a pretty large amount of blood." He suppresses a groan before continuing up the stairs.

~x~

"_It's fine Jazzy, I think it's awesome the two of you have finally decided It's time to talk out your problems instead of running away from each other." It's close to 8, it had long since gotten dark out and Elena was long gone having left around 4 to get ready for her date with Stefan. Adele had set up Scarlett on the floor in the living room, with some toys to keep her occupied while she tried to figure out what she wanted for dinner when Jasmine called telling her she wasn't coming over because Michael came home demanding they talk. _

"_We don't run away from each other." Jasmine argues in their defense not sounding the least bit convincing and Adele snorts into the phone. "Yes you do and it's about time one of you realizes it's not going to work forever." _

"_Whatever. I'll see you tomorrow." Jasmine huffs lightly and Adele bids her goodbye before hanging up and flopping down on the couch with a sigh. She turns her attention to the T.V, trying to figure out what is playing. It looks like Teen Mom, Adele groans reaching over to the coffee table to snatch the remote. She begins flipping through the channels, relaxing into the couch. She finally settles for Friends and throws the remote to the side before letting her thoughts wonder to her sister, Stefan, her friends, Scarlett and Damon. She soon becomes lost in her own mind as Scarlett throws a block across the room._

_She's snapped from her thoughts when a loud giggle erupts from her daughter and Adele looks over, watching as the small baby's arms wave and her legs kick in excitement. She frowns about to turn around to see what has her so excited before hands grab her shoulders and a loud "Boo!" makes her scream and jerk away, flying to the other side of the couch where she presses herself back against the arm, her eyes wide as she stares up at him, laughing hysterically behind the couch. _

_So consumed by gut wrenching fear, it takes her a moment to realize who it is standing there but when she does, she jumps up reaching over the couch to slap him in the chest. "You asshole! You just gave me a heart attack!" _

"_Ow." He whines rubbing the spot where she slapped him. "That hurt." He pouts and she glares standing up straight. "Good." She snaps crossing her arms over her chest and he smirks. "Well don't I get a proper hello?" _

"_No." _

_He pouts again but she turns her head away and he laughs. "Fine. I'll get my hello's elsewhere." He moves around the couch toward Scarlett who is still waving her arms around excitedly and cooing up at him. Bending down, he picks her up throwing her into the air lightly and Adele's heart rate which has slowed speeds up slightly again, like it did every time he did that. _

_He catches the baby effortlessly and hugs her close to his chest, kissing her head as she lays her cheek against his shoulder. Watching him with her always makes her heart soar and feel extremely giddy as cliché as it sounds. It's such a beautiful sight that she can't help the smile that forms and he catches it. "Can I have a hello now?" He asks softly and she nods, moving over to him and baring herself into his side, the side that's not holding Scarlett. _

"_What are you doing here?" She finally asks, after a moment of just letting him hold her. _

"_Well I missed you to." He chuckles and she shakes her head looking up at him. "That's not what I meant Damon and you know it. I thought your trip got extended?" _

"_It did, but I decided I didn't want to stay. I left Jerry and Camille there to take care of the contracts, they don't need me. I missed you. I missed you both." He answers, all playfulness gone from his voice as he looks down at her and she smiles leaning up to kiss him softly. "I love you." He smirks and tightens his arm around both her and his baby. "I love you too. I love both of you." He kisses Scarlett's forehead, who has fallen asleep against his shoulder before kissing her and she sighs melting into him. "I love you so much."_

~x~

Her eyes spring open and she jolts but is suspended from sitting up when arms tighten around her mid-section. Blinking back sudden dizziness, she wills herself to focus. Tilting her head slightly, she can just barely make out the numbers on the alarm clock beside the bed. 3:46AM. She lets out a breath of air and relaxes back into the bed, her eyes landing on the windows of Damon's room.

The events of the past day come flooding back to her, her conversion with Damon this morning about the vervain, agreeing to take care of Rose, Rose attacking Elena, Rose disappearing, finding her in the basement, being chased by her, pushing Elena to run away, getting thrown against the wall, being knocked out and the weird…dream that's leaving her with so many questions.

What was the point of that dream? Why would her sub-conscious create something like? Could it be because of her thoughts earlier about having a family? Did she want to have a family some day? And what about Damon? Even if she did want a family someday how was she going to find anyone she'd want to start a family with when she's pretty sure, it's going to be impossible for her to move on from him and he's a vampire. He can't have kids but in her dream he was obviously human. What the hell was the point of that dream besides to frustrate and confuse her?

She's tried. Why is she tried? She just woke up, she's not sure how long she was out for but it had to be a while. What happened to Elena? What happened to Rose? Is Damon okay? She would ask him but he's sleeping behind her and she doesn't want to wake him up. At least she thought he was sleeping. God, she feels so overwhelmed.

He feels her jolt and tightens his arms around her. He had come in about an hour ago and was wide awake. After having to kill Rose, seeing as it was his only way to stop her suffering, Elena confronted him about caring and though he did care, more then he would have liked he wasn't about to let her know that. He didn't trust her, he likes Elena. He really does and he cares about her. She's become somewhat of a friend to him which is partially why he's trying so hard to keep her safe but he can't bring himself to trust her, not in the way he trust Adele. He can't bring himself to trust anyone the way he trust her.

Elena had proceeded to tell him how much he cares, how much he actually feels and had told him not to give up and he attempted to her that he does feel and told her that it sucks and he wasn't just talking about Rose when he said it and he's pretty sure Elena picked up on that, he's pretty sure Elena could see right through him and know that while he can hide it very well, it hurt knowing he can't have Adele, knowing she just doesn't love him the way he loves her.

In all his pent up anger and heart ache, he let it slip to her that he feels guilty, that it was supposed to be him that died tonight and when Elena called him out on it, he denied it telling her it would be human for him to feel guilty and he's not human, he even went as far as to call her out on giving up because it was all she's been doing. He told her to go home and what did she do? She hugged him, but he couldn't bring himself to hug her back.

After she had finally left, he had changed the sheets of his bed, before moving into the spare room, he had put Adele in where he saw she hadn't moved an inch. He tried three more times to wake her up and each time he failed making him believe she might have slipped away from him and it causes even more of an uproar in his emotions.

After moving her into his room, he left. He just needed to get out. Elena's "You're so close, don't give up" stilling ringing in his head and making him realize that she expected him to be someone, _everyone_ expected him to be someone he's not. Someone he can't be.

With his emotions running high and his sanity teetering on the edge, he expressed everything to a stranger after tricking her into thinking he was hurt from laying in the middle of the road, not to mention he might've been just slightly drunk. He wanted to kill her, because that's who he was but everyone expected better of him. Elena expected better of him, Stefan expected better of him, even Adele expected better of him and maybe that's why she didn't love him, because he was nothing but a monster and deep down she knows that.

In the end he killed her. It was an impulse thing, something he regrets right after but it was done and he couldn't take it back. He hid the body and took another hour before finally going home, and she still hadn't moved. After cleaning his face, and changing his clothes, he crawled into the bed, wrapped her tightly in his arms and just laid there, his eyes staring over her shoulder, out the windows in his bedroom and when she jolted in his arms and tried to move away, through the guilt and every other emotion running through him, he felt a rush of relief to know she was okay.


	28. Chapter 28

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><p><strong>Chapter 28: Daddy Issues<strong>

"The sheriff's department believes drugs played a part in the deranged and violent behavior that left three people dead…" Adele's eyes blink open as the sounds of the news and the shower in the bathroom flood through the room. Slowly sitting up, she focuses her eyes on the T.V, the only coherent thought going through her mind at the moment being 'more deaths?'

As she's listening to the reporter talk about dead or missing people, Damon enters the room from the bathroom a towel wrapped securely around his waist and she has to force herself to keep her eyes on the T.V and away from him. His attention is also on the T.V, she's not even sure he realizes she's awake.

"…25 year old Jessica Conan was reported missing early this morning…" Adele's eyes are drawn to Damon and not just because he's practically naked but because of the way he turns his head away from the screen, before looking back and then walking off in a hurry and Adele's eyes widen. She'd know the signs of guilt anywhere.

Getting up from the bed, she quickly pulls out some clothes and throws them on before Damon reappears in the room, this time fully dressed and he seems shocked to see her awake. "Hey…How's your head?"

"…Fine…" She answers slowly, she still felt slightly dizzy and her head still _kind of _hurt but other than that she feels fine. "Damon…What did you do?" She asks softly and he freezes. It takes him a moment to recover before he turns to her. "What do you mean?"

"The girl, Jessica whatever…What did you do?"

"What makes you think I did anything?" He snaps at her and she sighs shrugging her shoulders. "The way you practically ran from the room says a lot." He doesn't say anything for a long minute, he just stares at her and she stares back not willing to back down. "In my defense, I didn't know you we're awake." He finally responds and she shakes her head at him willing herself not to smirk at him.

"What do you expect from me Adele? It's who I am! I know you all expect me to be the perfect citizen but that's not who I am. I'm a vampire, I drink people's blood. I kill people. It's. Who. I. Am."

Adele's shocked at his sudden outburst, not sure exactly where it came from or what brought it on, but as she watches his chest rise and fall at a rapid pace and his blue eyes burn with rage she figures this outburst has been brewing for a while now. "What…what brought this on?" She finally asks, her voice is low and she blinks at him making him feel bad for snapping at her but it subsides quickly.

"Oh please don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about." At this point she's more confused than she's felt in a long time and it's making her head pound, like someone is slamming a hammer in-between her eyes from inside her head.

"I'm not acting Damon! I don't know what you're talking about! What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you snapping at me? Why are you accusing me of something I don't even know I did?"

"Oh come on! You're 'what did you do' said it all. You, Elena, Stefan and everyone else expects me to be someone I'm not."

Adele's opens her mouth to fire back at him but the weight of his words finally settles in and closes it, sending him a frown as she backs up a side. If someone walked into the room right now, they would assume he hit her with the expression on her face. "Do you…do you really think that?" She whispers and he sends her a look, that tells her he isn't making a joke and so suddenly he's not even sure what happened, her blue eyes turn sharp and her expression changes to something cold, something that doesn't belong on her beautiful face.

"How dare you." She spits out through clenched teeth and man if he thought he was mad. "I can't…I can't even believe you would say that to me! I've done nothing but expect who you are Damon but I guess as it would turn out you don't know who you are because if you think your that guy…that guy who kills people because he likes, because it's his nature then you're a freaking idiot!"

He watches stunned into silence as she collects her phone from the bedside table before turning back to him. "You are not that guy. I don't expect you to be anybody because I _know _who you are. You're the guy who has saved my life, you're the guy who is working day and night to save my sister from being killed in some creepy ass sacrifice because wither you want to attempt it or not you care about what happens to her and you know how much it'll kill me and I can take a pretty good guess at what happened to Rose. A man who doesn't care about other people wouldn't do any of that."

She slips her feet into her boots as her phone vibrates in her hand.

_911 now! ~Caroline. _

Her eyebrows rise in alarm as she stares down at the message. It had been a while since Caroline sent her a 911 text. A 911 text had always been there way of telling the other they had a problem they needed help with right then and there. Looking back up at Damon, she lets out a breath of air. She's feels mad and offended at the same time and she just can't believe him. She can barely even look at him.

"I'm leaving, but I want you to know that to think you don't know me better than _that_ hurts. It really hurts Damon."

~x~

She doesn't bother with knocking; she doesn't bother to call out to her. She knows exactly where she is, pacing in the living room while trying to not pull out her hair. "What's going on?"

"Tyler knows!" She exclaims stopping to look over at Adele with wide eyes and horrified expression.

She of course needs more clarification than that. There's a lot of things Tyler could know and a lot he should never know. "Tyler knows what?"

"Everything! He knows everything about Mason and how Damon killed him and about Stefan and how we lied to him! I'm surprised he didn't call you or come attack you!"

"He attacked you?"

"Not exactly, it was like a split second loss of control where he pushed me against the car. I'm seriously surprised he hasn't called you or anything."

"Yeah I'm not. Tyler confronts people who've done wrong by him but not me. It's the silent treatment all the way around when it comes to me. He'll ignore me and ignore me and ignore me until I seek him out and demand to know what his problem is. How did he find out? No, you know what I know that answer! It's that werewolf that bit Rose. She was looking for him the night of his transition, she knew about Mason. She told him, but god! What does she want with him?"

"Well what do we do? I'm freaking out here!"

"Yeah and you should be! Tyler is hot headed, he always has been and now that he knows what happened, he could do something incredibly stupid! He could go after Damon and Stefan, and Damon already wants him dead so there would be no stopping him from killing him. Someone needs to talk to him. We need to get to him before something happens." Adele rants now being the one to pace around the living room.

"Well I can't talk to him. He won't listen to me."

"He won't listen to me either, like I said silent treatment all the way. We need someone else…" Adele trails off raking her brain for someone, anyone with great communication skills. She stops looking up at Caroline. "And I know just the person." She yanks out her phone as Caroline nods having faith in her best friend to get someone able to help them.

~x~

15 minutes later and there's a knock on the door. Adele races to it yanking it open. "I got your 911…what's up?" Stefan asks his eyes filled with concern as Caroline pops up behind her. "Tyler knows everything." She answers as she lets him in.

"What do you mean everything?"

"He knows about you and Damon. He knows Damon killed Mason. I didn't say a word." Caroline says in a rush and Stefan turns away for half a second to run a hand through his hair. "It's that woman Jules. She had a run in with Damon." Caroline sends Adele a glance. "I told you." She mummers as Caroline throws her hands in the air as they follow Stefan further into the house.

"Tyler was so upset. The look on his face, he was so betrayed." Adele feels a rush of guilt. She should've came clean with Tyler in the first place. She knows that so why didn't she do it? _The same reason you're not telling Michael about vampires. The same reason you're avoiding Jasmine because you know you have to tell her about your meeting with James. _

Shaking herself from those thoughts, she looks up at Stefan. "You're not going to tell Damon right? He already wants to kill him."

"No I'm not. He already thinks all werewolves should die and he's not wrong to think that. I mean what if Tyler tries to retaliate? He has every right to. He could get himself killed."

"Well we're not going to let that happen!" Caroline snaps and Adele nods. "We have to get to him and reason with him before he does something stupid."

Adele nods again before speaking up. "You have to talk to him. Just try to explain. You always know the right things to say and he won't talk to me or let Caroline try to explain. Please Stefan."

"He's…he's my friend." Caroline says and Stefan looks between the two blondes in front of him. How was he supposed to say no when they look at him with those large puppy dog like eyes?

"Okay fine I'll see what I can do." Adele breathes a sigh of relief as he starts to move towards the door.

"Whoa, wait!" He stops turning to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "This is the first time I've seen you since you we're released Grandpa! Where's my hug?" Stefan snorts a laugh and moves back to her to wrap his arms around her neck and squeeze tightly. She laughs squeezing him back before letting him go. "Oh, I should probably let you know a head of time that John is back in town."

"John? As in my Uncle John, who's actually not my uncle at all?" Stefan nods and before she can say anything he's gone. Adele closes her eyes before turning to Caroline. "What's wrong with your Uncle?"

"Oh you haven't heard? He's not my uncle…he's my father." Caroline almost chokes on her own spit as she looks at Adele. Adele nods. "Yeah, I'm surprised I didn't have that same reaction." Caroline decides not to comment on it at the moment.

"So what do we do now?" She asks instead and Adele takes a minute before answering. "Let's go shopping."

~x~

Caroline smiles her thanks to the waiter as she places there sandwiches in front of them before regarding Adele carefully. "So you and Jasmine are close." She didn't mean for the statement to make it sound like she was…jealous but that's exactly the way it sounded and a small smirk is sent her way in return. "Yeah we are. She's the one who took me to Florida where I meet…them."

"Oh." She says simple as she picks at the sandwich and Adele laughs causing Caroline to frown.

"Caroline…you've been my best friend since the sandbox. Do you really think I could replace you? You're like a sister to me and I love Elena, but sometimes you're more of a sister then she is. I'm close to Jasmine, really close to her because of what we've been through together in the past year but she can't replace you."

"I feel really stupid for even bringing it up but you know…you guys are just together so much and we haven't really seen much of each other since you got back…I don't know. Forget I said anything." Caroline sends her a bright smile before changing the subject. "So Florida…how was it?"

"It was...hot. Like really hot."

"That's not what I meant." Caroline whispers and Adele nods casting her eyes down to her plate. "I know, I figured." She swallows, she's never talked about him to anyone besides Jasmine and that's only because Jasmine had known him as well but she as she stares down at the plate, she decides that maybe it's about time she does and what better person to start with then Caroline?

"His name was Tony; he was a vampire…like 468 years old. He was turned before he turned 21 in Russia."

"He was Russian?" Caroline asks and Adele nods a smile playing on her lips. "Was he like all dark and sexy?"

Adele laughs. "He wasn't dark in the sense of appearance. He was blonde and his eyes we're brown but like a lighter shade of brown, they weren't real dark. Sexy? He was beyond. He was really tall and he was…he was built but not to the point to the point where it was gross. He was dangerous too. I mean you couldn't always tell, he was really laid back most of the time but you did not want to make him angry." There's affection wrapped in every word she says and Caroline sends her a small sad smile.

"It sounds like you really loved him."

"I did and part of me still does. I think that part will always be there just like I still love Mickey, just not in that sense anymore. When they returned my memories to me, I didn't think I was ever going to get over him. I couldn't believe he was dead. I didn't want to but…" Adele trails off trying to find the right words to explain herself.

"But your feelings for Damon helped you…" Caroline offers and Adele slowly nods. "Yes. The thought of seeing him got me out of my room on Founder's day only to almost lose him as well and I think that's when it really hit me, but I can't give myself to him just yet. Because like I said there's still a part of me that loves Tony and I don't think I'm ready." She only half lies but Caroline doesn't seem to notice as she nods.

"What about Bruce, what was that with him?" The question had been on Caroline's mind for a while now and Adele leans back.

"I…I'm not sure. I know I didn't actually feel anything for him. I just…_wanted_ him. As bad as that sounds. I couldn't really feel much with that wall up. It blocked out feelings like that unless they we're strong enough to pass through. Apparently my desire for Bruce was pretty strong."

"He is a good looking guy." Caroline mutters and Adele laughs.

"He is indeed. You know I'm surprised I haven't been fired from my job yet. I've missed so many days it's really laughable but Corbin won't fire me. Remind me to ask Damon what he did to that man."

~x~

After lunch the two continued on their shopping spree. It was nice, it felt like old times where nothing but getting this season's fashion and having boyfriends mattered, now not only did they have more problems than just looking good, there situation involving guys had never been worse. After Caroline explained her problems with Matt and Tyler, Adele told her vaguely about her problems with Damon including his blow up at her this morning.

"I know how you feel about him so I'm not trying to say anything negative here but you also know my feelings for him. I can't just forget what he did to me."

"And I don't blame you." Adele sighs as they continue on to Caroline's parked car. It had long since gotten dark out and the two decided it was time to head home. Caroline suggested they have a movie night and Adele agreed. "If are roles were reversed, I would hate him just as much as you do. But I don't hate him, I can't. He just really…pissed me off this morning. I'm still shocked he would even think that of me."

Caroline is about to respond when a "Hey" from behind them makes them turn. Seeing it's Matt, Adele sends him a smile before turning to Caroline. "I'm going to go wait…over there." She points to the car before going off in that direction and Caroline shakes her head at her best friend before turning back to Matt.

Adele leans against the car. She wonders briefly what the others are up to. She hasn't heard from anyone all day which is refreshing but weird at the same time. She's not so lost in her thoughts that she misses Matt's asking Caroline to meet with him after the Grill closes and Caroline agreeing before Matt takes off and Caroline turns to her with sending her a guilty smile.

"I'm sorry. I know I suggest movie night…"

"Hey. Fine with me, we both need to get our guy situation worked out at least you have the guts to try." Caroline laughs as she reaches her and Adele makes a move to go to the passenger side when she notices the woman standing behind Caroline. Caroline seems to sense it to and spins around. "Caroline and Adele right?" They nod but don't say anything as they study her. Adele's not sure who this woman is but something doesn't seem right and she already doesn't like her.

"I'm looking for Tyler." Ah. She understands exactly who this is now. "You haven't seen him have you?"

"No. Not sense earlier." Caroline lies smoothly and Adele shrugs. "I haven't seen him at all today." Her answer is just as smooth but also true. "Sorry." She mumbles and they both turn Caroline ready to get into the driver seat and Adele ready to move around the car.

"I know you're lying Caroline." Both girls freeze and only Caroline turns back to look at her.

"Really? How? Is that one of your little wolf tricks?"

"Actually it is."

Caroline nods before turning back to the car. Adele glances sideways at her, praying she's not about to do what Adele thinks she's going to do. Caroline closes the car door and Adele cruses. Yes, she diffidently is. "Well I have a trick to." Caroline lets her face transform before whirling around and lets out a small shirk before turning back to lean against the car, her hands coming up to cover her face and Adele moves closer to her side to see what's wrong but before she can, Caroline spins around again, Adele following her lead this time and lets out a pretty loud shirk completely out of shock and horror when instead of the woman it's a man and he shoots Caroline right between the eyes.

Adele is so caught off guard as she looks down at Caroline that she's not aware of the guy coming for her and she has no time to react before he's got his arms around her neck and piece of cloth over her mouth and nose. She struggles but it's useless the guy is too strong and she can smell the heavy scent of Chloroform on the cloth. Slowly everything becomes dark and she falls back into the man's chest.

~x~

She can hear groaning and small screams as she slowly starts to regain consciousness and before long she can hear her name being called. She lets out a small moan of pain when she moves her head and opens her eyes. "Caroline…" She mutters as her eyes start to adjust to the darkness of the room. When they do and she's able to see clearly, she notices bars. Steel bars all around her. She's in some sort of cage.

She moves into a position that lets her push herself up onto her knees and turns her head to see Caroline in a cage much like her own, right next to her. "What the hell?" She mutters and Caroline shakes her head just as confused. "I see you got the bullet out." Both girls jump and look over. There…the guy who shot Caroline and knocked her out is sitting the gun in his lap as he regards them both, looking very…bored. "That was…nasty."

Caroline whimpers slightly as Adele only stares. This is the second day in a row she's been knocked out and it was starting to piss her off. "I have a lot of wooden bullets and other toys…" His eyes turn to Adele and he sends her a cruel smirk. "And seeing as your human, you'll be even easier to torture. It's going to be a long night sweetpeas." And with that he lifts the gun pointing it at Caroline before shooting her in the shoulder. Caroline screams.

"Stop! No! What the hell man!" Adele yells only for the gun to be turned on her.

"Shut up or I'll just end you right now." Adele presses her lips together as the fear finally starts to set in. What have they gotten themselves into now?

~x~

Tyler doesn't say anything to Stefan. After his little speech about coming back here to have a family and telling him that they both could have that without being mortal enemies, he's not sure what to think. He's not sure who to believe, Jules who told him that Vampires can't be trust and they will do to them what they did to Mason, or Stefan who has really been nothing but nice to him since he arrived in Mystic Falls?

Stefan's cell phone buzzes in his pocket and he takes it out. Seeing that it's Caroline, he answers it. "Hey…" He stands moving over to the unlit fire place. "Is everything okay?"

"That depends, how badly do you want to keep them alive?" Stefan freezes because it's not Caroline but it is a woman and she's threatening him with people's lives, Caroline's most likely but she said them meaning more than one, but who's the other one? Caroline was with Adele this morning. Could it be her?

"Who is this?" He asks slowly and Tyler glances up at him in question, being able to hear some of the conversion from where he's sitting.

"Ask your brother. Where is Tyler?"

"Jules." Stefan pinpoints. "Where are Caroline and…Adele?" He tries hoping like hell he had it wrong.

"You made a mistake Stefan. I'm going to give you a chance to fix it." That wasn't denying his thoughts that she has Adele as well as Caroline.

"Where are they?"

"Right here. You want proof?" He can hear a door opening and a few steps before she speaks again but not to him, to someone else. "He needs proof."

He hears a gun shot and then screaming and to his complete and utter horror it's not Caroline. It's Adele. "What are you doing? She's human! She won't heal!" That was Caroline.

"What's happening?" Tyler asks but Stefan ignores him.

"Hurt her again, hurt either of them again and you're dead."

"I hurt either of them again and there dead, one right after the other. Bring Tyler to me. The clearing by Wickery Falls. You have 20 minutes before they die!" With that Jules hangs up and Stefan glances down at Tyler. How is it that every night it seems like there running through hell just to keep everyone alive?

~x~

"So…" Damon's head jerks up in surprise and he turns to look at Jenna who is coming up behind him. "My friend wants to meet you." She announces and he raises his eyebrows before a woman steps into his line of vision and he is once again surprised. "I know you. You're the news lady." He didn't sound all that impressed but the woman brushes it off.

"Andie Starr. Nice to meet you."

Damon's not exactly sure what to say, on any other given night he would have started to flirt, he would have turned on the charm and had her hooked in minutes because the woman is very pretty but not tonight. After his…conversion –if you could even call it that– with Adele this morning and what happened with Rose, he's sworn off woman completely well at least for the time being.

"Can…I buy you a drink Damon?" She looks hopeful and eager, obviously confident in herself but come on…she even looked down to see he had a full glass in his hand.

"My glass is all full Andie. Thank you." He slides off the bar stool easily and moves past her and down the steps where Elena is watching.

"You totally blew her off." Elena points out; it was truly a sight to see. One Elena thought she would _never_ see.

"I'm staying clear of all women at the moment." He comments back and Elena turns as he passes her, keeping her eyes locked on him. This must have something to do with her sister.

"You didn't have to be rude."

"Trust me it's in the best interest of woman everywhere." He brings his glass up to take a long sip of the alcohol as Elena's phone rings in her pocket. Pulling it out, she sends one more glance in Damon's direction before answering it. "Stefan…"

Damon's frown deepens as he watches Elena's face drop. "What is it?" There's few more minutes of conversion before she hangs up and looks at Damon. "Jules has Caroline…" Elena trails off but Damon can sense there's more. "And…" He pushes and Elena takes a deep breath. "She has Caroline…and Adele." His glass almost slips from his hand. "She wants Tyler within the next 20 minutes or she's going to kill them. Both of them."

"That bitch." He growls tossing his glass on the table closest to him. "Where are they?"

"Damon…"

"No Elena. Where are they?" Elena looks around not wanting Damon to cause a scene. Grabbing his arm she pulls him to the bathrooms and into the woman's.

"Elena. Tell me where they are!" He snaps and she shakes her head.

"You need to calm down. You're not going to help them if you go storming up there. She might kill them before you can reach them."

"That bitch does not know what she has done. Going after me and killing Rose is one thing, now she's has Adele? I don't think so. When I find her she's dead. What did he say? Tell me everything."

Elena does, she tells him everything that Stefan told her, from Tyler finding out about them and Mason to Jules having Caroline and Adele.

"Why am I just finding out about this now?"

"Stefan was worried that you would…"

He cuts her off. "That I would kill him? Well of course. That's what needs to be done."

"No Damon. Not Tyler. Do whatever you have to, to get Caroline and Adele back but leave Tyler out of it."

"Why? He's a werewolf. He needs to die, I'm willing to kill. It's a win, win."

"Damon please too many people are dead. Plus he's Adele's best friend. He's family to her."

"You need to stop doing that." Elena looks up at him shocked.

"Doing what?"

"Assuming that if you throw _her _into the conversion I'll play the good guy. Stop using her against me."

Elena sighs and looks down for a brief second because that is exactly what she was doing, she didn't expect him to call her out on it. "Be the better man Damon." She finally says looking back up at him. He looks ready to say something when the door opens and John storms in.

"Do you mind?" Asks Damon as he sends him a look over his shoulder.

"What's going on?" He asks.

Elena runs a hand over the back of her neck. "Nothing."

"It doesn't look like nothing."

"Well guess what John? Trust works both ways! Get out!" Damon says and John has the strange feeling that whatever it is it has something to do with the daughter who's been MIA all last night and all today.

"Look we don't have time for this. We need to get Caroline and Adele back." Elena reasons, confirming his thoughts.

"No _we_ don't need to do anything. I'll take care of it." With that said Damon turns around. "First Dad duty ground this daughter; keep her here while I go save the other one."

"I'm coming with you." Elena calls moving to leave but John steps into her path with a long series of no's.

"I'm with Damon on this one…" Elena makes a move to fight him off but he restrains her easily. "Stop, you're not going anywhere. Tell me what's going on. Where is Adele?"

~x~

Adele can feel the effects of blood loss and her whole leg feels slightly numb. He shot her directly in the left foot and she knows, she knows the bullet didn't come out. It's in there and she's bleeding, she's losing way too much blood for it to be heathly. Both girls flinch back when they see the guy move. He moves to crouch in front of the cages, looking at Caroline. "So how many Vampires are in this town anyways?" He's holding some sort of gun, a green water gun.

When Caroline doesn't answer, he shoots her with it splashing water across her face and making her shirk in pain as the skin bubbles. The water is laced with vervain. "No?" He asks and Caroline kicks the cage. "Why are you doing this?"

"You're a vampire. Why not?" He asks as he's messing around with some other tool and Adele wonders what it is before he lifts it bringing it to his mouth and blowing. Toothpicks shoot out, hitting Caroline in the neck and she screams again. "Let me out!" She yells hitting the cage.

He turns to Adele, who's been silent the whole time, feeling helpless. "What about you sweetheart? Do you have an answer for me?"

Her fear and pain is pushed back slightly as her temper rises. She snarls at him. "Yeah, go fuck yourself!" She snaps and his smirk is once again cruel. "Wrong answer." He mummers moving over and to her surprise, he unlocks her cage. Silently she thinks it's a stupid idea on his part as he gets it open and her adrenaline kicks in right away. She brings her good foot up as he ducks in and kicks him right in the nose and she hears the sound of bone crunching. Startled he springs back hitting the back of his head on the top of the cage. She kicks him again and he falls back, out of the cage and she wills herself up, crawling out after him. She thinks if she can get Caroline's cage open, they can get free.

She crawls past him and is reaching for the latch when his hand wraps around her foot, the one he shoot and squeezes. She screams falling onto her back and kicking out her good foot which hits him in the ribs and she swears she heard another crack of bone and brings her foot back up ready to do it again but this time he catches her ankle throwing it to the side as he moves in-between her legs. The hand that had grabbed her foot wraps around her throat and he pulls her head up before slamming it back down but her adrenaline is so high, she barely feels it.

She swings a hand up, and her nails catch him in on the cheek, starching down his face and neck causing him to holler out and let go of her neck. She thinks for a second she has the upper hand but he's on her once again, just has fast as before, he manages her flip her over onto her stomach and with a hold on her right arm. With a single lift and pull, he takes her shoulder out of its socket and she lets out another scream causing Caroline to flinch as she yells for him to stop.

Having her finally under control, he picks her up and pushes her back into the cage where he locks her back up before wiping at the blood from his nose. He sure as hell is not going to be opening that door again. She broke his damn nose, scratched the hell out of his face and cracked a rib, thank heavens he heals quickly. He didn't expect her to have that much fight in her. He underestimated the god damn human girl, and he wasn't about to do it again.

"I should kill you but I'm not going to. I want you to suffer before I do but try that again and I won't think twice about snapping your neck." After his warning the guy leaves in a show of frustration.

Caroline crawls over to the other cage, where Adele is curled up on her side, holding her shoulder. "Adele…"

"I'm fine." She whimpers and Caroline shakes her head.

"God Adele. I've never seen anyone kick that much ass with a bullet in there foot. You broke his nose and possibly a rib. You're so stupid and I love you." She laughs slightly, trying to make the mood a bit brighter. Adele doesn't laugh. "I need to get us out of here." She whispers instead.

"No, please just stay right there. Maybe he'll leave you alone if you don't move. If you do something like that again…you heard him. He'll kill you."

Slowly Adele pushes herself to sit back up and lean against the wall where she turns her head to look at Caroline. "There is no way in hell I'm dying in here without a fight. If I die I'm taking one of them with me."

They sit quietly, only Adele's harsh breathing and Caroline's small whimpers fill the small trailer there being kept in. Adele is trying to work through her pain laced mind to come up with a plan. If she could just reach the latch of her cage, she can get it open and get Caroline out of her cage. If she could do that much, the rest she could make up on the way. She's very good at working under pressure.

Slowly, she moves towards the front of the cage and Caroline opens her eyes when she hears the movement. "Adele…"

Adele shushes her as she reaches the front. She's forced to twist her body in an uncomfortable way in order to be able to use her left arm, seeing as she couldn't move her right. Sticking her arm through the bars, she reaches for the latch. "Come on…" She mutters. She's almost got it. She just needs a few more…

"Wait…" Adele's eyes snap up and her hand freezes. "Something is happening." Caroline mutters and weakly pushes her hair behind her ears. "Stefan's here." Adele stares at Caroline. "He's got Tyler." Caroline closes her eyes, trying to listen closer. "He's trying to negotiate our release."

Caroline's eyes spring open a moment later. "Damon's here." Adele begins working for the latch again; she needs to get them out there and now. "There's more werewolves. A lot of them. There outnumbered." Caroline trails off once again and Adele pushes harder.

Caroline's eyes widen and her head picks up. Tyler stumbles into the trailer his eyes falling on them and Adele looks up, pulling her arm back through. "Tyler! Tyler! There's a latch on the doors and we can't get to it! You need to open it." He doesn't move he just stares as if trying to figure out what to do. "Tyler…Tyler please! I'm bleeding, really bad!" Adele practically begs hardly able to believe he's even thinking about not letting them out.

Finally he springs forward, unlatching Caroline's door and moving to Adele's. Once he has it open, Adele crawls out, using the chair the guy was sitting in earlier, her left arm and her right leg to pull herself up into her feet. Curling her arm into her chest and putting most of her weight on her right foot, she begins towards the trailer door as fast as she can, with Caroline and Tyler right behind her.

Stepping out onto the packed dirt, she looks around spotting Damon right away, laying on the ground. "Damon!" She yells and begins in a half limp half run over to him only to be caught by a guy two times bigger than her. "Let me go!" She yells pulling at her arms but the guy –whoever he is– is too strong for her. Looking back over towards Caroline and Tyler, she sees Caroline pressed against the trailer with Jules pointing a gun to her neck while Tyler just stands there. He turns his head and his eyes meet hers but he doesn't do anything but look to the ground and she feels a surge of anger towards her so called best friend.

She jumps as the man holding her screams and throws her forward. She falls onto her knees but doesn't stop to look back to see what happened, she can hear the other werewolf's screaming as well but her eyes are locked on Damon as she crawls towards him.

Reaching him, she grabs a hold of his shirt as he groans. "Come on Damon, get up." She mutters and his open to look at her before he pushes himself up. Grabbing a hold of her waist, he makes his way to his feet bringing her with him. He can smell blood, her blood but he's not sure where on her it's actually coming from and he's not trying to find out, his eyes are focused on the new guy to join the wreckage just like everyone else's. It's clear to them, that he's a witch.

"Elijah made a promise to Elena, I'm here to see it's upheld." Elijah's witch apparently. "You need to go." He's looking directly at Stefan, but he's talking to all of them. Damon doesn't question, he just moves forward with his arm still wrapped around Adele's waist but is stopped when she staggers. "My foot." She whimpers and he looks down spotting the wound right away. Clenching his jaw, he bends down puts an arm under her knees and an arm behind her back and lifts her up easily. She hisses in pain and he shifts her into a more comfortable position as he walks.

"How do you always do this Kitten? How do you always end up like this?" And he's taken aback when she actually laughs. "I don't know but I really need to stop wearing white." She mummers laying her head on his shoulder and he glances down. Her shirt is stained with dirt and splotches of blood, diffidently ruined. He finds it amusing that while she's bleeding out in his arms, she can find it in her to worry about her clothes.

~x~

"Alright…this is going to hurt." He says but she doesn't acknowledge the comment. She stays still; laying back on the table with her bad arm clenched her to her chest and the other arm thrown across her face. He's decided to focus on her foot and get the bullet out. He's astonished she hasn't passed out by now from blood loss seeing as the blood is still coming but she's fully awake, fully aware of everything around her.

He'd gotten her foot out of the boot with little difficulty and on the count of three, he digs two fingers into the wound and flinches as she screams and sits up. He gets the bullet and she falls back down her screams turning to small whimpers. Closing her eyes, she feels him wrapping something around her foot before he's urging her to sit up and she wants to tell him to get lost and let her be because she didn't want any more pain but she knows he has to do this so slowly she sits up.

She sits stiffly as he cuts up the middle of her shirt and pushes it from her left shoulder and then her right where she winces slightly. She half expected a snarky comment from him about being in only her jeans and bra but he's not in his regular Damon mood as he stays silent while grabbing a hold her elbow before putting his other hand on her forearm. "Ready?" He asks but before she answers he lifts her arm and pushes it back popping it back into place and she gives off a weird half yell half shirk noises while squeezing her eyes shut.

Once again before she can say anything and before she even realized what he did, he's pushing his bleeding wrist to her lips and she's forced to take a few gulps before she pushes his arm away with a glare.

"I guess all there's left for you to do if take a shower. Get that blood and dirt off you." Adele sighs and shakes her head pushing herself to the very edge of the table.

"I want to go home Damon."

He pauses in picking up the bloody rags next to them but resuming with only the simple reply of "Oh." She watches him clean up before he looks at her. "I'll go get you a shirt." He disappears from the room and she sighs again, sliding off the table and wincing at the soreness of her foot. It might be all healed from the blood Damon gave her but that didn't mean it wouldn't be sore for the next few days.

She could stay but she has a feeling all they would end up doing is fighting or ignoring each other, they we're in one of those moods and she still didn't understand his outburst from this morning. It still hurt and it still pissed her off.

When he comes back, it's not with one of her shirts; it's with one of his. She takes it from him with a muttered thanks and slips it on slowly before she realizes he also has a pair of her flip flops has well. Reaching down, she pulls off her other boot, kind of disappointed she decided to wear them today. She loved those boots.

She slips the flip flops on before following Damon out the door of the house and towards his car. "Just drop me off at Caroline's. My car is there." He nods and looks as though he wants to say something buts hold back and she doesn't push.

~x~

He dropped her off, just like she wanted him to but she didn't go home like she told him she was going to. She drove past home and found herself at Michael's apartment. The only reason she decided to go was because she knew Michael wasn't there. He was working and it gave her a chance to finally talk to Jasmine. Something she should have done when she first agreed to meet with James.

Walking into the living room of the apartment, she finds Jasmine on the couch watching some reality T.V show with Willy who is no longer purple in her lap. "Hey…" Jasmine jumps ten feet in the air causing Willy to fall from her lap and beside her on the couch. Jasmine turns, her green eyes wide. "Oh my god…what happened to you?"

Adele wonders how she knows something happened and as if reading her thoughts Jasmine stands up. "You have blood smeared on your neck, and you have blood on your face as well. That's Damon's shirt and you look like you're in pain. What happened?"

Adele limps over to the couch and plops down bringing her sore foot up to rest on the coffee table. "Where do I start? How about with yesterday. I had to take care of a vampire who got bitten by a werewolf, she went after Elena, I got knocked out and while knocked out I had the weirdest dream in the history of weird dreams.

Then there's today where I woke up and the first thing that happens is Damon jumping down my throat about me expecting him to be someone he's not. I then went to Caroline's where Tyler had found out about Mason and how Damon killed him. I went shopping with Caroline which was fine, it was fun, I had a good time until we we're attacked and I was once again knocked out. I woke up and we we're locked in cages in some trailer in the middle of the woods. Turns out we were kidnapped by a psycho werewolf that wanted Tyler. I was shot, in the foot and when the guy tried to come into my cage I attacked him, ended up getting my shoulder dislocated but everything is good now because Damon healed me with his magic healing vampire blood, now I just have to make sure I don't die in the next twenty four hours."

Jasmine is stunned, so shocked she can't find anything to say not that she needed to at that moment as Adele mutters another comment. "Shouldn't be too hard right? Its only one day." Sarcasm laces every word and Jasmine swallows. "Oh and I met with James a few days ago." Adele throws out there shocking Jasmine even more.

There are a few minutes of nothing but silence as Jasmine tries to find words. Sure she hadn't seen or talked to Adele in a few days but she sure as hell never expected Adele to go through so much in that small amount of time, not that she could've stopped it if she was around but it makes her feel kind of guilty because while she was having an amazing time cooped up in this apartment with Michael, Adele was out almost dying every night.

"Wait a minute…you met with James?" She exclaims as she finally realizes the last thing Adele said and Adele nods.

"I needed to figure out what he wanted Jasmine. I couldn't run and hide."

"Well then…what did he want?" Adele finally turns to look at Jasmine and she had never seen her friend with such a serious look in her blue eyes. The look scared her almost as much as when Adele looked mad. Almost. "He wants me to join his Buffy fan club." The comment is sarcastic but the meaning behind it is clear as day. "He wants you to join his….army of vampire hunters?"

"Yep and when I told him hell no he told me I would come to see it his way. Still wondering exactly what that means."

"Did…did he say anything about me?"

"Yes. He says he wasn't following you to kill you. He just wanted to know where I was and he knew you would lead him to me."

"And I did. I did exactly that. Adele I'm so sorry." Jasmine breaths and Adele rolls her eyes. "Don't be. He would've found me with or without you. I just hope he's not planning to hurt anyone."

~x~

As she walks through the door of her house, the first person she sees is John walking up the stairs but upon hearing the door open, he stops and turns. Relief flashes across his face and Adele has to stop herself from scowling at him. "Adele…I'm so glad you're okay."

She closes the door, eyeing him cautiously. "Oh yeah. I'm sure you are."

"I am. I know it might be hard for you to believe with everything I've done but I do care, I don't want anything to happen to you…" He trails off as Adele holds up hand.

"Listen John. I've had a really bad couple nights and I don't want to hear any of your bullshit about caring. You might have had a little bit to do with making me but you're not my father. My father's dead so just save your 'I care about you and I want to help crap' at this point; I have every right in the world to tell you to get lost." She leaves him staring after her as she walks past the stairs. She realizes that might have been a little harsh but none of what she said was a lie and she wasn't feeling up to listening to him talk about caring.

Coming into the kitchen, she goes to the fridge and yanks it open grabbing a water bottle. She drinks half of it before putting it back and turning around where she met with the sight of Stefan and Elena watching her. "That was…mean." Stefan finally speaks up having heard everything Adele said to John and Adele scoffs. "That was true and I'm fine by the way. I didn't shot tonight or anything. Thanks for your concern." Stefan sends her a sheepish smile which causes her to shake her head.

"Hey, I need a favor." He tells both Gilberts and they wait for him to explain.

~x~

She shows up a couple minutes after Stefan, Bonnie and Elena, having had to take a shower to rid the blood and dirt from her body not to mention the 20 minutes of just standing there staring at the tile wall. The warm water did nothing to relive the soreness from her body.

Coming up the porch steps she notices the three girls hugging and Caroline crying. She couldn't blame her. Today had been a nightmare and when Tyler finally showed up, he hesitated in letting them out, in helping them. Adele felt betrayed by his actions but it must be worse for Caroline who had grown close –and not in the sense of just friends– to him in the past couple weeks. Adele felt like she could cry as well but she doesn't want to. She's sick off all the crying.

"What's up with the tears? Don't you think we've had enough of those for one night?" She teases and Caroline's head snaps up, her eyes meeting Adele's and Adele sends her a small smile telling her that she's perfectly fine and Caroline chokes on a sob breaking away from Bonnie and Elena to run to her where she throws her arms around her and hugs her tightly. Adele hugs her back just as tightly, her smile dropping. She ignores the soreness and stiffness of her muscles that are protesting against the suffocating hug all while willing away the tears.

Pulling back, she smiles at Caroline again before turning to Elena and Bonnie who have come up beside them. Elena finally hugs her, unlike before where she just stared like she was taking her in and making sure she was alright. Adele pulls away from her as well and her eyes find Bonnie's. "I'm glad you're okay." Adele nods and smiles her thanks. It's amazing how far the two of them have come in such a short amount of time. Years of hatred are almost completely forgotten. Almost but not quite.

"Are you…okay?" Her eyes lift to Caroline and she lets out a long breath before shrugging. "Sure. I'm fine but you know…for how long?"

~x~

"I need a distraction." Damon declares as he leans back in the tub full of warm water and bubbles and away from Andie Starr, who he had called over not too long ago. "You can booty call me any time you want." Her tone is light and teasing but Damon gets the feeling that she's completely serious, which works well in his favor.

"You see…" Damon leans over the side of the tub to grab the glass of wine from the floor before sinking back into the water. "The thing is Miss…sexy reporter girl I have a problem I need help with. It's really messing with my mind."

"Oh. Tell me about it?"

"I'm in love with a woman I can never have." Her smile drops but Damon can't bring himself to feel guilty. She had asked and he told her. She leans forward taking the glass from his hand. "I knew it." She leans back again. "I know how to pick 'em. So why can't you have her? She's with another man I assume?"

"No not exactly. She loves her fiancé who is dead." Andie's expression turns from slightly bitter to shocked. "But that's not the point. The point is, is I'm in love with her and it's driving me crazy. I'm not in control."

"What? You don't trust yourself around her?" She jokes but Damon's not laughing.

"I don't trust myself around anyone Andie. I'm bad. I do things…"

"Oh…" Andie giggles but once again he's not laughing and she sees this, her giggling subsiding as she stares at him, noticing the intense look in his blue eyes.

"I kill people." She waits for him to tell her he's joking but after a few seconds she realizes he's not and she frowns, her heart rate speeding up and she jerks back as he leans forward grabbing her by the legs and pulling her forward. She catches his eye and can't look away. "Don't be afraid. You're okay."

All the fear she began to feel is gone and she blinks leaning back once again as he lets her go. "Why do you kill people?"

"Because I like it, it's in my nature. It's who I am." Even to him it sounds more like a well-rehearsed line then the truth but Andie nods, accepting his answer. "But then I have to stay together to help protect someone she cares about…someone we both care about and she _wants_ me to be a better man so I can't be who I am."

"_If you think you're that guy…that guy who kills people because he likes, because it's his nature then you're a freaking idiot!"_ Her words replay over and over in his head. It is who he is. It's who he's always been. He knows it is. So why doesn't he truly believe it? "You see the problem I'm having Andie?"

"Well…maybe this is who you are now. Love does that Damon, it changes us."

That's not what he wanted to hear. Not at all. "Just stop talking." Sitting up, he pulls her forward again. "Just kiss me. Be my distraction." And he kisses her, a long and slightly sloppy kiss that has her arching into him before his lips move to her neck. Before he can stop himself, his fangs grow and the veins under his eyes begin to pulse. He bites down, harder than actually necessary and she jerks in his arms, trying to push him away as the bite stings for the first few seconds before she melts into him, closing her eyes and leaning her head back, allowing him better access because it feels…strangely good.


	29. Chapter 29

**Yay! Another update! WEEEE! Lolz. xD Well I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

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><p><strong>Chapter 29: Crying Wolf <strong>

_She bounces down the steps of the porch, hugging herself as she does. Damn it's cold out. She should've grabbed a jacket before coming out here. "Adele..." Spinning around, she sees Tyler standing there in the yard. Having called her a couple minutes ago, asking if he could talk to her, she had pointed out to him that it was close to 4 in the morning but he insisted that it was important and even though she's not happy with him, she went outside anyways. _

"_What do you want Tyler?" She asks softly as he comes forward. _

"_I just…I mean…I'm sorry." She raises an eyebrow at him, that's a pretty lame apology is she's ever heard one. "What I did…it wasn't right. Your my best friend and I almost didn't let you out when you we're hurt and I didn't help you when they we're restraining you." _

"_No Tyler. It wasn't. You listened to them, you basically picked them over two people you've known your whole life." _

"_I just…I don't know what to believe. Everyone is telling me different things, not to mention you didn't tell me the truth about Mason." _

"_And last night was exactly why. Mason did things Tyler, things I couldn't believe he would do. He almost got Stefan and Damon killed and he was helping someone who wants to hurt Elena. I had no control over what Damon did, that was all him." _

"_I am sorry Adele. I really am." _

_She nods. "I understand that, but you need to get your thoughts together and I need time to be able to forgive you." _

~x~

Her eyes travel around the room. It's huge and roomy and she could get use to staying there. Glancing at the clock she sees she has almost two hours before she has to leave and Damon is in the shower giving her the perfect chance to snoop around a bit. Getting up off the bed, she starts with the pile of books.

A few minutes later and she's standing in front of his dresser mirror examining the bite mark on her neck when her eyes catch sight of something in the corner. A wallet sized photo shoved into the frame. Slowly she reaches up and plucks it out. It was a photo of a girl, a young girl, 16 maybe 17. She looks oddly familiar like she's seen her around the town and if this is who she thinks it is and knowing how small this town is, she probably has seen her around.

She's beautiful too and not the kind of beautiful where it's because you've packed on a load of make-up, no this was natural beauty, natural beauty that immediately causes a ping of jealously on her part. This picture makes her wonder if there's anything else of this girls that he has, if so that might answer her question on who she is.

Opening the drawer right next to her, she's taken back by the clothing. It's obviously not guys clothing but girls, the drawer is full of girl's clothing. Taking out the first piece of clothing, a cropped white t-shirt that makes her wonder how small this girl is. The tag on the back says the shirt is a medium but when she picks up the tank top under it, the tag says small. She picks up a bra next, a white and black bra. While the straps are black, the cups and the band are white and there's black lace covering the cups. The size says 34C and Andie isn't about to pick up the panties to see their size. Putting everything back besides the picture, she moves to the closet and opens it to reveal _more_ woman's clothing mixed in with Damon's.

Sighing she closes the closet. When she took a shower, she didn't question the vanilla scented body wash, she figured it was just a stroke of luck since she didn't have to use Damon's and smell like a guy all day. She looks back down at the photo.

"What is that?" She jumps. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear the shower go off or Damon come into the room in only a towel. She holds the picture up.

"Is this her?" He doesn't say anything at first as he walks up and takes the picture from her. "Yes." He answers finally as he puts it back where he had it. He stares at it for a minute resisting the urge to run a finger along it before turning away.

"She's…young." Andie comments and Damon looks up at her.

"In the sense of appearance maybe but you don't know her. She's so much more than just a young and pretty face. She's intelligent, beautiful, stubborn, sarcastic, and kind of mean but she gets me. She's the only person who actually understands me." Andie doesn't say anything for two reasons. One because she's not sure if he would hear her anyways, he seems to be in his own little world and two because she's not sure what to say. She feels…jealous. Sure she might've just met this guy yesterday and he's…a vampire but she likes him and she knows as long as this girl is standing in their way, he'll never talk about her with that look like he would do anything in world for her in his eyes.

This girl has no idea what she has standing right in front of her.

~x~

A loud ringing causes a stabbing pain to shoot through her head and she groans echoing the two other groans from two of the other girls in the bed. Adele had decided she would sleep at the end of the bed, with a pillow and a blanket instead of squeezing in-between Caroline and Elena or Caroline and Bonnie. She was more comfortable like this anyways.

With Caroline pushing her and Adele kicking her they successfully knock Elena off of the bed, Caroline telling her to go away because the phone that is ringing is hers. Adele just wants to go back to sleep but Elena answers the phone in the room and while Bonnie shushes her and Caroline calls her name, Adele takes her pillow and throws it at her. "Leave!" Elena crawls from the room slowly, but they can still hear her causing Adele to sigh. Fine, she's up.

Rolling off the bed, she stands up, grabs her bag and leaves the room, stepping over her sister's legs and goes for the bathroom. Once in there, she throws her hair into a pony tail, brushes her teeth, and changes into a jogging outfit before packing up and leaving the bathroom where Elena is waiting. "I'm leaving." She announces.

"So I am." Adele mutters walking past her and Elena sighs shaking her head. Though last night Adele was nothing but civil with her, she was still slightly hostile, obviously still upset with her.

Adele pokes her head back into Caroline's room. "I'm leaving." She calls getting muffled groans from the two girls still in bed and she laughs softly before making her way to the front of the house.

~x~

She started jogging from the park and into the woods. She liked jogging in the woods; there we're more turns, stuff that could pop out into her path that she has to avoid. She finds it more of a work out then just jogging down the street but she's made sure to stay completely clear from the part of the woods she was held in last night.

From the moment she started jogging, she's had the suspicion that she was being followed, but she hadn't slowed down to confirm those suspicions, if anything she just keeps speeding up.

She trying to keep distance between her and whoever it is, she thought maybe she could lose them but so far she hasn't, so she takes a different approach. Speeding up once more, she puts a pretty good amount of distance between them before ducking behind a tree big enough to shield her from view.

Sure enough after a couple minutes, she hears the sound of twigs snapping and leafs crunching under feet and she holds her breath. The person stops just in front of the tree she's behind. "Shit…" She hears them mutter and it's a guy, that she is sure of, she's also sure they now think they've lost her, it would be easy for her to sneak away, but she lets curiosity get the better of her and hopes to hell it doesn't come back to bite her in the ass.

She slowly circles to the other side of the tree and peeks out, his back is turned away from her but she has a huge sense of recognition as she studies him. Anger makes her blood boil and she steps out from behind the tree to stand behind him, she waits for him to turn around and when he does, his eyes widen and he jumps back a step startled. Seeing his face and knowing she was right about whom it is, her eyes narrow.

"Justin right?" She asks her voice void of all emotion and the guy nods, still slightly startled. She takes a moment to look at him. She was right he had to be at least 6'3 and lean. He didn't look much like a vampire hunter with a plaid button down, dark jeans and black boots. Under any other circumstances she would have thought he was pretty hot but now she's just angered and annoyed. "Why are you following me?"

He recovers quickly and sends her a small smirk that just annoys her more. That smirk just tells her he's an arrogant and snarky bastard. "It was technically your idea." She's confused, what the hell does that mean?

"_If you really want to track me, do it the old fashion way and send someone to stalk me," _Oh you have got to be kidding. If she knew James would take that to heart, she would have gladly taken the tracking device.

"How long has this been going on?" She sighs.

"Not long. I wasn't following you yesterday but the day before that, you really didn't do much. Between you and I this assignment has been pretty damn boring."

"That's because you missed all the fun, if you would've stuck around yesterday you would have been in for a real good show."

He scoffs. "Of course, all the fun happens when I'm not there."

Adele rolls her eyes. "Why did he send you? Your stalking skills suck."

"That's not true, I happen to be part ninja. You just have a keen sense for your surroundings."

"One of my best qualities." She finds herself joking and she wants to slap herself. At the moment, he's the enemy and she's not to get comfortable around him no matter how easy it seems to be.

"I'm sure you have many remarkable qualities." He teases and she rolls her eyes again crossing her arms.

"You didn't answer me. Why did they send you?"

He shoves his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "My outstanding personality of course."

"Okay…" She sighs with a small smirk while looking around. "Is there any way I'm going to be able to tell you to get lost and you actually get lost?"

He pretends to think about it for a moment before shaking his head. "No but I could let you go and count to 10. We can turn this into our own personal game of hide and seek." This time she laughs.

"Maybe later. I have places to be. If following me around is all you have to do today, you might as well be my date. Let's go." She turns around and begins walking back the way she came. She can hear him jogging to catch up to her.

"Wait what?"

~x~

They reach the edge of the woods that leads them back into civilization with little to no difficulty, going the wrong way once when Justin swore they we're going the wrong way and just to shut him up, she followed him and laughed at him when she was right. "I've lived in the town my whole life; I've been jogging through these woods almost as long."

"Yeah about that, how can you stand living here? It's so small."

"I'm guessing you're not a small town guy." She says throwing a smirk to him over her shoulder as they get closer to her Mustang.

"I was born in New York City and raised in Chicago. What do you think?" He retorts and catches sight of the car there making their way towards. "Is that your car?"

"Yes, that is my baby. With the help of my dad I build it, from the ground up."

"That's pretty bad-ass I'm not going to lie."

Adele unlocks the door. "I like to think so. I'm guessing that over there is yours?" Justin looks over to the black Ford F250 and nods. "A gift…" He doesn't sound exactly thrilled but he doesn't elaborate just shrugs it off and turns back to her.

"Well, go back to where ever you're staying, change into something more presentable and meet me at the Lockwood Manor." She quickly gives him directions before adding a "It's a huge white house, truly you can't miss it." And they go there separate ways. She's only agreed to let him follow her around; in the off chance she can get answers from him. James mentioned he was one of their best recruits. He must know something.

~x~

She's leaning against her car when she sees him finally pull up behind her car and turn off the engine of his truck. Through the windshield she can see he's on the phone. The all business expression on his face gives her the impression that he's talking to James. After a couple minutes, he ends the call and slips from the truck making his way over to her.

It would seem he traded his plaid shirt for a black button down, leaving the first two buttons undone. It looks like he might have taken a shower as well, seeing has his hair was now flat and damp, making it hang slightly in his eyes.

"Get lost?" She teases seeing as she's been waiting for a good 10 minutes.

"Yeah I wish I could say that was my problem but no. I couldn't figure out what you meant by more presentable. I stared at my duffle bag for like 20 minutes before deciding to actually change." Adele snorts. She thought she was bad with picking out clothes to wear.

"Don't laugh. I don't usually do this. By the way, I'm cutting our day together short. I have to leave in like 30 minutes."

"I thought you had to stalk me?" She pouts playfully causing him to shake his head.

"Well apparently James needs me for something else a couple towns over, says it's real important and you know he can't get off his lazy ass and do it." Justin rolls his bright green eyes and Adele is just now noticing now bright they truly are.

"I thought you guys we're like a society? Doesn't he have others to send off?"

"I'm the closet to the town." Adele nods as they begin towards the house.

"What is it he wants you to do?" She asks causally like she's just trying to make conversion and a slow one sided smirk forms on his lips.

"Wouldn't you like to know."

~x~

Andie had noticed her a few minutes ago, but she still had no idea who she was but now she know as Jenna calls out the girls name taking her attention away from the small group that has gathered around her, seeming very interested in the small back and forth banter that seems to be going on between her and some guy. Upon hearing her name the blonde turns, links her arm through the guys and comes over to them.

Adele Gilbert, Jenna Sommers niece. Jenna's talked about both her nieces and her nephew plenty of times and she's always spoke very highly of them but she never mentioned that one of them had been the object of affection for the guy she's been drooling over since she's arrived in town. It was just her luck when she found out Jenna knew him on a pretty personal level and she could only guess how but now she knows that to.

"Aunt Jenna, this is Justin. I met him in Florida during the summer. He's visiting and I decided I'd show him around and what better place to start then the Historical Society's High Tea?"

The guy mutters something under his breath that only Adele heard as she sends him a playful glare. Jenna smiles at him before turning back to Adele. "Was he a friend of your…fiancé?" So she did have a fiancé. Like Andie mentioned to Damon before, she's young and Andie wouldn't expect anyone that young to have a fiancé. Adele's eyes flash with…sorrow before it's gone and replaced by a relaxed smile, she also noticed the way the guy tensed at the mention of fiancé, maybe he didn't know she had a fiancé either.

"No, he wasn't." Adele answers quietly.

"Okay. Well this is Andie Star. She's the new news reporter." Her blue eyes turn to her and she sends her a welcoming smile that Andie tries to return.

"It's nice to meet you." Adele mummers and Andie nods her agreement.

"It's nice to meet you as well; Jenna's told me all about you."

"I hope all good things." Adele teases looking at her Aunt who nods with a smile.

"Of course, I never mentioned how big of a pain in the ass you can be." Jenna jokes back and Adele laughs.

"Oh I see how it is. I'll remember that the next time someone asks me if you're a responsible guardian." Jenna makes an "Oh" face before they both laugh. Deciding not to stick around any longer, Andie turns to Jenna.

"I'll see you later Jenna." Jenna nods at her and a second thought has her stopping and smiling at Jenna. "And once again, thanks for introducing me to Damon. He's so…amazing." It was a small jab at the blonde, kind of Andie's way of saying he was now hers but all the blonde does is smile at her in return as she glances at her before walking away.

~x~

"What did she mean by that?"

"She kind of asked me to introduce her to Damon when she realized that I knew him. When he blew her off at The Grill yesterday, I swear I didn't expect him to call her. Don't be mad at me." Jenna says in a rush, she hadn't wanted to introduce the two in the first place on account of Adele but Andie had practically begged.

"I'm not mad Aunt Jenna. Damon and I aren't together; he can do or date anyone he wants."

Damon had noticed Adele, some random guy –that he's not even going to worry about at the moment– and Andie standing across from each other and had instantly started listening in, catching there whole conversion, including Andie's thanking Jenna for introducing them and noticing Adele's lack of a reaction which annoys him slightly.

So engrossed in listening in on them, he almost misses Elijah turning to Carol and asking, "Who is that, over there talking to Jenna Sommers?" And he turns to glare at him.

"Oh that's her Niece. Adele Gilbert. Now that I think about it, if you really want to know some interesting things about the town, I'm sure she can help you as well as her Aunt. Why don't I introduce you?"

"That would be lovely." Elijah answers with a smile that turns to a smirk as he catches Damon's glare.

"Adele!" Carol calls out which causes the small blonde to turn and look at the three. Damon is impressed that she manages keep such a warm and inviting smile on her pretty face as she begins over to them, the random guy still on her arm.

"Hi Carol." Adele lets go of the guys arm to move over and hug Carol softly before moving back to the guy's side. "Carol this is Justin, he's visiting from Florida." She lies smoothly; smooth enough to convince them all that is where he's actually from.

Carol gives the guy a nod much like Jenna had before turning all her attention to Adele. "I would like you to meet Elijah Smith. Elijah this is Adele Gilbert, anything you want to know about the town, you can ask her." Adele turns her smiling face to Elijah and she lets him take her hand and place a small kiss to the top of it that makes Damon's blood boil and his fist clench. He wants to rip the original's head off right where he stands for looking at her in the way he is. It doesn't even matter that Adele has once again taken the Justin guys arm, all that matters to him is getting that look out of Elijah's eyes, the look that says he's fascinated by the girl standing in front of him.

So consumed by his murderous thoughts, he doesn't realize they've sparked a conversion. "…Well I'm a bit of a history freak. It's one of my best subjects."

"And you're a very beautiful history freak at that." Adele's laugh is what truly brings him back to the real world, but it doesn't relieve the anger. If anything her laughing at something this guy says just fuel's it more.

"Why thank you."

"You know Adele; I'm a history lover myself. We should get together some time and…talk." And Adele doesn't miss a beat, telling him that his suggestion was a good idea when it's anything but.

"Well that all sounds good but right now, I think you and I need to have a…talk." Damon cuts in and Adele turns her blue eyes to him. He sends her a tight smile and she sighs. "Come on Justin, you have to leave in like 10 minutes, let's go show you the rest of the house."

~x~

"Who was that?" Justin asks as she pulls him into a different room. She glances back to see the two men still standing there.

"Damon Salvatore…" She answers and Justin sends her a look that tells her, he already knew that much. Of course he does.

"Elijah. He's an original." Suddenly Justin stops, pulling her back when she tried to keep going. She looks up at him startled.

"What are you doing mixed up with an original?" He asks and all the teasing, all the light humor is gone from his tone. His green eyes are sharp and his expression is emotionless.

"Do you know something about them?" Adele asks quietly, glancing around to make sure no one can hear them.

"I know of them, only a handful of us have ever encountered one. But I do know that their dangerous. Even James knows to keep his distance what with no way to kill one. Which is why I ask, what are you doing mixed up with one of them?"

"Ask James. If what he claims is true and he's been keeping a close eye on me over the years, he should know the answer to that." With that she begins walking again, and with a sigh Justin follows her.

Spotting Alaric she starts over to him, until she notices John. "Oh great." She mutters, her steps wavering slightly as she juggles the idea to still go over there around in her head. She takes a few more steps over, just so she can hear what their saying.

"I don't think you should sleep over anymore. It's inappropriate with the children in the house and that ring that Isobel gave you…that's mine. I'm going to want that back."

She can feel her blood pressure start to rise. Who the hell does this guy think he is? Children? "Alaric!" She calls out before she can stop herself and both adults turn to look at her. Alaric smiling when he sees who called his name and just to piss her _father _off she runs into his arms letting him hug her tightly before pulling back to look at John, the smile she's wearing falls. "Hello John."

"Adele, I've been meaning to find you. I think we should talk."

"I would say no simply because I don't have anything to say to you, but it's not that. I just don't _want _to talk to you and by the way. Elena, Jeremy and I are not children; Alaric staying over is not that big of a deal. We like having him over, he's more of an uncle to us then you ever were."

"Adele…" He ignores her uncle comment completely. "I know you're mad about what I did to Damon and you have every right to be, but I'm here to help Elena. I'm here to help you save Elena. You're my daughters and I know I'm not your father, Grayson was a better father then I could ever be which is why I left you and your sister with him and your mother. I knew they could give you what I couldn't but that doesn't mean I don't care because I do, I care more then you're willing to believe. I just hope one day, one day I can prove that to you." Before she can say anything –not that she really knows what to say to that– he walks away from them, leaving her with a whole whirlwind of emotions.

Turning around, she finds Alaric glaring in the direction John had disappeared before he looks back down at her and his eyes soften. "I don't believe him. I can't believe him." Alaric nods, pulling her into his arms. "I know. You have no reason to." She nods against his chest, pushing back the stinging in her eyes. Sometimes, times like these she missed the wall. She missed feeling emotionless.

~x~

"Everyone has family problems." Justin's brushes off Adele's apology for him having to witness the exchange between her and John.

"I'm guessing that's code for you having family problems to." He stops as they reach the front door of the Lockwood's and turns to her. "More then you could probably guess." He nods and she sighs.

"Well…tell James I said hi." She smirks and he laughs before he becomes serious and she frowns, even if she did just meet him she already felt uneasy when he comes so serious.

"I just want you to know that if it we're up to me, I wouldn't even bother you with this but it's not up to me. All I do is follow orders and that's what I'm doing now. Following orders."

"I understand. I do. But there is something I want to ask…"

"I wasn't there." He cuts her off.

"What?" She asks frowning.

"In Florida, that whole thing that went down with Braxton, I wasn't there. Personally I had no problem with him which I guess is probably why he kept me off that…plan but like I said before I don't call the shots."

Adele nods, that had been exactly what she wanted to ask. She figures, it had been on his mind as well to clear the air on that matter but there was still so much she wanted to ask, so much she needs to know.

"I'll see you some time tomorrow." So lost in her thoughts she looks up just in time to see him walking away.

"Justin wait!" Running after him, she catches up with him as he turns back to her. "Give me your phone." He raises an eyebrow not exactly understanding but does as she says and she quickly opens up a text window, puts in her number and sends a blank text to her phone. "I'll text you if anything interesting happens and you miss it." He smirks understanding perfectly.

~x~

She's walking towards the backyard when Elijah steps in her path from walking out of a side door, Richard Lockwood's office. "Miss. Gilbert, I'm looking forward to our talk in the near future." He walks away before she responds and she frowns. Why does everyone keep doing that? Shaking her head, she glances into the room and sees Damon, leaning over the desk his hands pressed against his neck stained in blood and she rushes into the room.

"Damon." Coming up beside him, she puts a hand on his back. "Are you okay?" He straightens up.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"What happened?" She asks examining his neck but of course there's nothing there.

"He stabbed me with a pencil which is exactly why having a _talk _with him is not allowed." Adele's not sure what he means by that until there conversion early when she was first introduced to him comes back to her and she rolls her eyes.

"I only said that to be polite Damon, Carol was standing right there I could just say "No way, you evil original bastard" that would have made me look like a bitch."

"Sometimes the situation calls for being a bitch."

"Yeah well not that one." Damon sighs, deciding not to push on the matter, but he has a feeling Elijah took that conversion a little more serious then Adele.

"Who was that guy you we're with? Your date?"

"No. He's a friend visiting from Florida. I did have more friends than just…them you know, but what about you? Did you come here just to start something with Elijah or did you come here to show support for your new girlfriend?"

"Jealous?" He asks and she rolls her eyes crossing her arms.

"Not likely. I told you, if you find someone you like, go for it. I don't care." He doesn't say anything back, he just stares at her and she stares back not willing to be the one to look away first.

"Damon…Adele…" Breaking eye contact, both of them turn to the door way to look up at Alaric.

"Let's get out of here. I could use something stronger then tea." Damon grumbles grabbing Adele's arm as he passes.

"Why do I have to go?" She asks pulling her arm away from him.

"Because I'm not leaving you here with _him_ running around."

~x~

She leans back against the arm of the couch, resting her feet in Alaric's lap as she takes a sip of the drink in her hand and gazes down at the pictures on her phone that Elena just sent her.

The text connected to the pictures read: _Found this secret room in the cabin, looks like Mom and Dad had a whole double life. _

The pictures of various weapons made to kill vampires hanging on walls didn't exactly shock her, she suspected something like this since her meeting with James, because what other reason would her parents hang around someone like him?

"Today was a bust." Damon groans from the chair.

"Yeah, how's the neck?" Adele locks her phone and sets it beside her, looking up to Damon for his answer to Alaric's question.

"Sore."

"Yeah that Elijah is one scary dude…" Alaric says and Adele snorts.

"But he has awesome hair." She adds causing Alaric to laugh.

"Hey you want another one?" He asks standing up to take Damon's glass and Adele shakes her head when he turns to her. She has to drive and while Alaric might be okay with the risk of ruining his car, she is not.

"He's going to be hard to kill." Damon voices his thoughts and Adele nods her agreement but stays otherwise silent.

"Yeah, I'd think twice about trusting that dagger and some ashes to do the job. You're going to need more info."

"What dagger and ashes?" Adele asks looking up at Alaric who had been the one to say the statement.

"John gave it to him, says it will kill an original."

"And you believe him?" Adele exclaims.

"I'm out of sources." Deciding to change the subject before the two can start an argument, Alaric comes back around to hand Damon's cup to him before taking his seat where Adele puts her feet back in place on his lap.

"What's up with you and this news chick?"

"She's got spunk huh?" Damon's eyes briefly meet Adele's who only smirks at him before he looks back to Alaric, the idea that she really doesn't care irks him big time.

"Just don't kill her, please."

"Yes Damon. Please." Adele mutters looking down at her phone as it buzzes. It's only a text from Jasmine asking if she's okay so she ignores it for now.

"If I did who would report her death?" Damon jokes.

"Just don't do it, alright? She's friends with Jenna and it's bad enough that I'm lying to her about everything else. I hate the lies." Adele has nothing to say to that because truth be told, she's not fond of the lies either. Lately she's been wondering if keeping the truth from her loved ones was really the best idea. It just always seemed to back fire on them. Alaric yanks his phone from his pocket. "I got to go. I got to pick Jenna up. Don't worry I'll show myself out."

"Wait, I should go to. I want to stop by Michael's." She lets Alaric take her hand to help pull her off the couch, putting her glass on the table.

"So I'm alone then? You're just all going to leave me?" Damon asks watching them.

"Why don't you call _Andie_? I'm sure she'll be happy to keep you company." And there it was the first real sign of a reaction to his dating the reporter girl and he sends her a smirk as she leaves the room with Alaric.

~x~

Alaric is about to say something to her, something in regards to Damon and Andie she's sure, but before he can an arm grabs ahold of her waist, pulling her back into a hard chest and a hand covers her mouth when she goes to scream, pulling her further into the shadows of the side hall way. Alaric jumps back in surprise, though he doesn't have time to react as someone else appears and shoves a knife hard into his gut, he stumbles back, and purposely knocks over something that hits the ground and shatters. It would definitely alert Damon that people are in his house and one just abducted Adele.

Adele struggles against the man holding her to no avail as the man was two times her size and much stronger than her and her panic is causing all logical thinking to come to an abrupt hold. "Stop fighting." He whispers harshly into her ear and she cringes. "We're not going to hurt you…yet."

Hearing obvious signs of a struggle from the room she was taken from, she stops fighting. Who the hell are these people?

The man holding her moves forward, making her walk and they come back into the main hallway where her eyes find Damon right away, laying on the ground looking up at them, his eyes meet hers briefly before he passes out and her eyes leave him to look beside her. Jules. Everything now makes sense.

Jules catches her looking and sends a smirk her way. "Nice to see you again. Don't look so worried, we're not going to kill you…yet but we are going to make you watch as we torture the location of the moonstone out of your little boyfriend here before we kill him. Unless you want to tell us where it is right now and save us the trouble."

The man holding her takes his hand away from her mouth and Adele smirks at her. "Screw you, bitch." And just to get her point across –her point that she wasn't about to tell her anything– she spits in her face before laughing but gasps when Jules back hands her. After a few seconds of staring at the ground, she starts to laugh again, flipping her hair and looking back at Jules, licking the blood from her now spilt lip.

This just angers Jules more who orders her to be tied up with ropes and put on the couch with a gun pointed at her, ordering the guy to shoot her if she tries to run. Adele notices as the guy holding her is following his orders that there are three other guys along with Jules. She struggles when the guy comes near her with a piece of duct tape, but she can't get far from him with her hands tied behind her back and her ankles tied together, so he manages to get the tape over her mouth, sort of crocked but on none the less.

Adele watches as one werewolf drags Alaric's body into the room and puts him on the floor in front of her, followed by Jules who sets up a chair from the dining room table in front of the fireplace and across from her. Another one of the werewolf's carries Damon into the room and drops him into the chair where the last one pulls something out of a bag, something that looked like chains, a collar looking thing, and small wooden nails.

After securing him with the chains, he puts the collar around Damon's neck before shoving the nails into small holes in the collar pushing them into his neck and Adele closes her eyes whimpering slightly. She's just glad he's not awake to feel that, though she knows he'll be awake soon.

"Open your eyes; you're going to watch this." When Adele doesn't, Jules knocks the end of the shot gun in her hand, into the side of her head but only hard enough for her to open her eyes.

After a few starched out minutes that felt like hours, Damon begins to stir and with a groan his eyes open landing directly on Alaric's dead body before they move up and meet hers before noticing the guy holding a gun to her head. His head rolls back onto the chair as he groans, his eyes catching the man standing beside him, holding chains which makes him realize, he's wrapped in chains unable to move. "Morning sunshine."

Adele's eyes follow the guy as he moves to stand in front of Damon, making sure not to block her view. "I saw this movie once, some torture porn flick…" If she wasn't tied up with duct tape over her mouth and being focused to watch them torture Damon, she would have made a snarky comment to that.

"Anyways…they had this collar device that was really cool so I just modified it some with some wooden nails and when I pull…" The guy pulls causing the nails at the back of his neck to dig in painfully, Damon groans instead of outright screaming which is what he wanted to do, but his eyes meet Adele's who fighting against getting up and yelling but the tape muffles her words which Damon is sure there not nice words, so he tries to push back as much as the pain as he can, hoping to give her some piece of mind.

"So I hear you have the moonstone." Adele's eyes snap over to glare at Jules. Man if she could move without being shot, she'd kill the woman where she stands. Damon starts to laugh which causes Adele to look back at him. This was no time to laugh.

"Only if you knew the irony of this moment right now." He sobers up and when he speaks again, his voice is rough and laced with pain. "Let me tell you how this is going to go, you're going to torture me, I don't talk, someone is going to lose a heart. Last time it was your boy Mason." Adele is screaming in her head for him to shut up as the guy holding the chains wraps them around his hands one more time, stepping closer.

"This time, it'll be you." Jules says in a perfectly calm voice. "And your little…girlfriend over there will watch the whole thing before we kill her to." Damon shakes his head, ignoring the jabbing pain of the nails in his neck.

"You can have me but let her go. She has nothing to do with this."

"Not going to happen, Brady wants her dead, she broke his nose. He holds grudges. Just know that if she moves, she's dead. He'll shot her, so don't be thinking she is going to somehow save you from the fate you put on yourself when you killed Mason." Jules nods to the guy and he yanks on the chains, pulling Damon's head to the side and digging the nails in. Damon groans again, glaring at the guy as Adele screams into the tape.

"Where is the moonstone?" Jules ask and Damon turns back to look at her.

"What do you want with it?"

"That's not how this works. Tell me where it is." When Damon doesn't say anything the guy pulls on the chains again and Adele blinks back tears, if they didn't stop this soon, she was going to end up doing something stupid and getting herself killed. Damon catches her eye, sending her a look that tells her to stay put.

"I'm not going to let you break the cruse. If anyone's breaking the cruse it's going to be us, Brady and Tyler our on their way to pick up the doppelganger right now."

Adele's eyes leave Damon to look at Jules in surprise. What? No…she's wrong. Tyler would never. Jules eyes follow Damon gaze and they fall on the blonde who is bluntly staring at her. "What? You don't believe me? Maybe you don't know your _best friend _as well as you thought you did. I know he didn't know you as well as he thought he did. He knows everything you're trying to do with the cruse; he's the one who helped us find where you're hiding the doppelganger."

Tears sting her eyes as she stares at Jules, not being able to say anything due to the tape but if she could, nothing she would say would be remotely nice or lady like. If what Jules is saying is true and Adele wants desperately to believe it's not but if it is and Tyler is outing her sister to these...monsters –because that's all they've proven to be– then she'll never forgive him. He'll be officially dead to her, 17 years of friendship gone because he chose to trust people he just met over her.

Seeing the obvious distress in her eyes, Damon turns to Jules. "You might as well just kill me." He sighs and both girls in the room turn back to look at him as the guy pulls on the chains and Damon growls in pain. A tear rolls down her cheek as she watches him. Jules decides to take a different approach.

"You know what the great thing about buckshot is? It scatters through the body. Maximum damage." Damon doesn't say anything as Jules lifts the shotgun in her hand and points it at him. Adele jerks and all eyes turn to her as the gun is pressed hard against her temple. "Adele…" Damon's tone is a warning and she swallows nodding at him as a few more tears fall. He turns back to Jules as everyone turns back to him.

"Where is the moonstone?" Jules asks the gun steady in her hands.

"Get over it Hunny, you're never going to get it." Damon grins, though it doesn't reach his eyes and Adele stops breathing waiting for the sound of the shotgun.

"Looking for this?" Everyone jumps, turning to the new voice. Adele is slightly relieved to see Elijah standing there and for the first time since her sister explained to that that she made a deal with him; she actually thinks it might not be as bad as it sounded.

Elijah moves forward, holding up the moonstone that he holds in his hand. Adele wonders only briefly how he knew they we're in trouble before he's stopping just behind the couch and sending her a quick reassuring smile. The guy with the gun to her head doesn't move. If anything he pressed the gun harder into her temple. Elijah places the moonstone, on the table and moves aside.

"Go ahead, take it." And one brave and stupid werewolf actually tries, only to get his heart ripped out before he gets his hands on it. The now dead body falls onto the couch next to her and she moves away from it as fast as she can in her restraints. Two of the other guys including the one who's supposed to be watching her go for it at the same time but they end up with the same fate as the other guy. Adele grimaces as she watches there lifeless bodies fall.

Jules takes off leaving only the guy who had been holding the chains to Damon's collar, who drops to the floor and pulls his jacket over his head. Elijah moves towards him. "What about you sweetheart?" The guy stands, his eyes staring straight ahead and Adele would laugh at the terrified expression on his face if she could. "Want to take a shot?" He shakes his head and Elijah places a hand on his shoulder. "Where's the girl?"

"I don't know." Damon answers as if he hadn't noticed she was gone. Elijah shrugs a shoulder, his eyes falling back on the guy.

"It doesn't really matter." With that he takes his hand away and punches him, hard enough that he snaps his neck.

Elijah comes to her first and she winces as he takes the tape off her mouth before bending down to rip the ropes off her ankles. He mentions for her to sit up and she does letting him rip the ropes from her wrist. "Are you okay?" He asks as he notices her split lip, his voice is soft and she nods reaching a hand up to wipe at the stray tears on her cheeks.

Elijah goes to Damon and rips the chains from his hands and midsection before moving back to smirk at him. "You realize this is the third time I've saved your life now?" Damon doesn't respond just sends him a tight smile as he turns away his eyes landing on her once again. "I'm adding another small stipulation to my…deal with Elena." He picks up the moonstone before glancing back at Damon.

"You keep Elena safe and…you keep her safe." His eyes meet hers before looking at Damon. "Do that and everything will be fine." With that said, he's gone leaving the two staring after him.

Snapping out of it, Adele pushes off the couch rushing over to Damon. She moves the chains off of him before turning her attention to the collar. Damon watches as she slowly starts to take the stakes out. Though there's pain that comes along with it, he stays completely silent only studying her. Once she's got all the stakes out, she removes the collar carefully.

"Now do you understand why you can't have a _talk _with him?" He asks quietly and she moves back to look at him.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"That means that he's taking just a little more interest in you then he should be."

Adele scoffs, thinking he's being totally ridiculous. "He is not."

"Yes he is. You don't see the way he looks at you. I do." Damon argues standing up and Adele shakes her head.

"You are making a big deal out of nothing. I wasn't even planning on talking to him."

"Good. Let's keep it that way." His phone rings as he begins cleaning up the mess around them. Taking the phone out, he groans seeing it's Bonnie but he answers it anyways. "What?"

He listens closely to what Bonnie is saying as he stares at Adele once again and Adele is suddenly worried. Whatever she was saying, it wasn't good for Damon to look like that. "So he was planning to kill her along?" He asks as he begins to move the chair he had been sitting in and Adele's eyes widen. "Got it. Loud and clear." Damon hangs up.

"What?" Adele asks and Damon hesitates before telling her everything Bonnie said from Luka and his dad working with Elijah to get his sister back to Elijah's plan to kill Klaus which requires Elena to die anyways.

Adele doesn't say anything as she looks back at him; forget her earlier thoughts about this deal being a good thing. Adele has a pretty good feeling, Elena is very aware of what this deal means for her and the thought angers her, it makes her so angry that her eyes take on that blackish hue and Damon sighs.

Without a word to him, Adele turns and leaves, Damon doesn't make any move to stop her, knowing it would be useless anyways.

~x~

As she's driving down the street, she dials Elena's number before putting the phone to her ear. She answers on the third ring. "Adele…Is everything okay?" Adele grips the steering wheel tightly before releasing it, trying to control the rage pumping through her veins.

"Did you know?" She whispers because she's sure if she tries to speak any louder she'll end up yelling.

"Know what?" Elena asks confusion evident in her voice.

"Did you know that your little deal with Elijah includes your death?" Her voice is louder this time, growing angrier by the second. Elena is silent, not sure how to respond. She can't lie, not when she knows she's been caught.

"Y-yes." She finally answers. "But I only…" Adele hangs up, throwing the phone into the passenger seat. In reality they we're the idiots for thinking that the deal would end any other way and they we're idiots for even believing Elena would be trying to save herself here.

She has another thought and reaches over picking up her phone, she looks through her recent text messages until she find the number she's looking for.

~x~

With quick reflexes and a stake ready to slip into his hand from a sling under his sleeve, Justin dodges the vampires attack. This was not how this was supposed to go tonight. They we're only supposed to capture the vampire in order to get answers about another vampire that James wants them to find, but damn it if Kyle didn't mess it up.

Kyle comes up on the vampire from behind but he's quicker than he is and spins around in time to throw Kyle across the room but it gives Justin that much needed spilt second distraction and he leaps forward, with a certain grace that only comes from years of training and as the vampire turns back to address him, the stake comes out plunging up under the ribs and into the heart of the vampire who lets out a surprised and pain filled gasps, his eyes widening as he stares up at Justin who shoves the stake in further to insure his death.

He lets the stake and the vampire go, letting the guy fall to the ground as his skin slowly starts to grey just as Kyle is standing up from the heap of broken glass he was lying in. "Well that was a bust." The older guy groans and Justin glares before his phone beeps from the pocket of his jeans. Taking it out, he glances at the name and smirks.

"Who is it? James?"

"No." Justin mutters opening the text.

_So I told you I would text you if anything interesting happens, well here it is: I was forced to watch Damon get tortured with a gun to my head by a few werewolves and found out some news on my sisters future. I'm pretty pissed off right now. Care to offer a distraction? ~Adele _

He shakes his head. He's quite shocked that she would be asking him for a distraction. Out of all the friends he's pretty sure she has, she's asking him to give her a distraction, the guy who is being ordered by his boss to stalk her and report back to him with whatever he finds out. He doesn't mind though, if he's being completely honest, he's likes the blonde.

"You got this? I have to get back to my other assignment." He speaks up to Kyle who raises his eyebrow at him and crosses his arm.

"So that's who it's from? The Gilbert girl James is disparately trying to recruit? You've swapped numbers with her?" Justin doesn't answer as he sends a text back to her that says he's 30 minutes away from the only motel in her small town of Mystic Falls.

"Didn't James warn you about getting close to her? You we're only supposed to be watching her from a distance."

"Well shit happens as you've demonstrated very nicely for us tonight. Thank you by the way for almost getting me killed." Justin snaps, putting the phone back into his pocket.

"Don't talk to me like that boy. James will have your head if you ruin this for him by getting too close to her."

"I know what I'm doing Smith, there's a reason James trust me more then he trust you. Now get this cleaned up, it's your mess anyways. You can be the one to break it to James that we didn't get the information he needs."

~x~

She was waiting about 40 minutes before his truck pulled up and she smiles pushing off her car as she waits for him to get out as he parks beside her. Once he's out, he mentions for her to follow him and she does. She follows him a couple doors down and into a motel room numbered 23.

Once he flips the lights on, she looks around. It's a pretty decent size with eggshell white walls and light colored wood furnisher which included a small table off in the corner, a dresser with a T.V on it, the queen sized bed frame and the small bedside table. The carpet was a sort of grey color and the place seemed relatively clean not that that surprised her any. It was the only motel they had in this town; they need to keep it clean if they want anyone to stay there.

"So what kind of distraction were you thinking of?" He calls as he moves to the bathroom, stripping off the black button down he's wearing and leaving him in just a white wife beater tank top and Adele's eyes travel over him. She watches as the muscles in his back flex as he walks and shakes her head, turning away to look at the other side of the room, this is so not the time to be checking anyone out.

"Any kind of distraction you can think of. I'm just…pissed. Since returning everything has gotten so out of control so quickly and I have no way to stop it at this point. I feel helpless."

"Pissed you say?" Turning back, she notices he's back in the room, crouching down to his duffle back that's by the closet. He was so silent; she didn't even hear him return to the room.

"Yeah." He stops digging through the bag to look up at her.

"Then I have the perfect distraction." He declares pushing himself up with a pair of black sweatpants in his hand. "I'm going to change. Be right back." She nods, suddenly confused and curious at the same time. What in the world does he have planned?

Her cell phone rings, and she takes it out expecting it to be Damon or even Elena but not Tyler and that's exactly who it is. She debates whether she should answer or not and decided at the last minute that she should.

"Tyler…" She says quietly into the phone as she sits on the edge of the bed.

"I didn't do anything to Elena, I promise. I didn't know anything about the curse. All they told me was that breaking it could stop what's happening to me and I listened because I don't want to be like this, but when Stefan told me they had to kill Elena to break the curse, I didn't go through with the plan. You know I could never do that, to her and to you. I'm sorry I was even involved in the first place. I should've listened to you."

"Yes Tyler. You should've." She whispers.

"I need to see you. I need to say goodbye."

"Goodbye?" All her pervious anger towards him is forgotten.

"I'm leaving Adele. I'm going with Jules. I need to be with someone who can help me right now." Adele is silent for a minute, noticing Justin as he shows back up in the doorway of the bathroom and leans against the frame watching her.

"You're leaving? For how long?" She finally asks, her voice barely above a whisper and tears stinging her eyes for the second time that night.

"I don't know."

"Bu…this is your home. This is where your family is…"

"Please Adele, I have to. I need to learn how to get through this, I need help and Jules can give me that. She can help me."

Justin doesn't know who's on the phone; he doesn't know what the call is about but it's obvious how upsetting it is as he watches the blonde wipe at a stray tear on her cheek before sucking in a shaky breath. "Okay. I'm at the motel. You'll see me." And she hangs up, putting her hands in her lap as she stares down at the phone.

"Hey…" She looks up at him, blinking slowly. "Is everything okay?"

"No. Everything's not okay. This whole thing just sucks. Everything sucks." She says standing up and moving to the door. He follows her.

They lean against his truck, waiting silently for whoever it was on the phone to show up. He can see she doesn't want to talk at the moment so he makes no move to say anything and she's great full.

A truck pulls into the parking lot, and Adele straightens up rubbing her hands down her arms for warmth. The truck pulls to a stop and the passenger side door opens, Tyler stepping out and moving around the front. Adele takes off flinging herself into his open arm and hugging him tightly, tears squeezing out of her eyes as she does. Tyler hugs her back just as tightly, blinking back tears of his own.

Pulling away, she moves her hands to his face. "Promise me you'll come back."

"Adele…"

"Please Tyler. You're my best friend. I've already lost so much and on the verge of losing more; please don't let me lose you too." Tyler swallows back the lump forming in his throat. He knew it would be hard to see her and then leave. She's his best friend, the girl he went to with everything growing up, the first girl he ever had a crush on –though he got over that quickly– and the girl he thought of as his sister, but man if it wasn't almost impossible seeing the tears run down her flushed cheeks.

"I promise." He whispers and she hugs him again.

~x~

She watches them leave the parking lot before turning to Justin, who takes one look at her and opens his arms. She moves into them almost automatically, letting his warmth surround her to thaw the ice in her blood and letting his scent of Axe, Leather and the distant smell of cigarette smoke calm her raging emotions. He's _extremely_ comforting and that is _extremely_ dangerous but at the moment, she can't force herself to care.

Pulling away, she wipes at the last tear before looking up at him. "Do you smoke?" He snorts a laugh.

"You have no idea how stressful this job can be. It's either that or I become an alcoholic." She nods smiling slightly.

"So my distraction…" He nods turning around.

"Ah yes. Well we need to take you home to change first." He disappears into the motel room only to reappear a minute later, with his truck keys and his motel key, along with a jacket that he throws at her. Right away she slips her arms through the sleeves and pulls it close. "Get in." He mentions to the passenger side of his truck.

"What about my car?"

"Leave it here. It's not like it has anywhere important to be." She sighs giving the car a glance before moving around the big truck and jumping into the passenger side. He slips in beside, her turning on the engine right away and pulling out quickly. "So what do I have to change into?"

"Anything you can move easily and quickly in."

"What are you taking me to do?" She asks eyeing him and he sends her a smirk.

"You'll see."

~x~

"The park? Why are we at the park?" She calls jogging in an attempt to keep up with him. Once they've reached the middle of a clearing with nothing but grass all around, he turns and she skids to a stop before crashing into him.

"Justin…what are we doing here?" She asks again. After him driving to her house, she changed into a pair of sweatpants much like his, a sports bra, a tank top much like his also along with the jacket he gave her to wear thrown over it and a pair of sneakers along with a change of clothes for after. She went back out to the truck only for him to drive them to the park.

"We're going to fight." Adele takes a step back to fully look at him, trying to see if he's joking. While it's very dark out with only the moon as there source of light, she can still see him and she can see he's completely serious.

"What?" She finally asks and he laughs.

"Not actually fight…we're going to spar."

"You're serious." She laughs and he shrugs.

"I'm dead serious. You said your pissed well what better way to get that negative energy out?"

"Well, I could think of another way…" She teases and he laughs causing her to laugh as well.

"Let's just see how this works out for us first and if this doesn't work, we'll be sure to true that method out next." He teases back and she shakes her head with a smirk.

"Think of this as training." He suggests and she crosses her arms.

"You're not secretly trying to train me for your society are you?" His expression turns slightly more serious as he regards her carefully.

"No, I'm not."

She nods and uncrosses her arms, putting them at her sides. "Okay then. Let's do this." His smirk is back and she barely has time to dodge him, tripping over her feet and landing on her butt as he swings out a fist so fast she barely saw it coming. She laughs as she looks up at his grinning face. "You're so going to get it."

* * *

><p><strong>So…how was it? What did you guys think of Justin? I know I mentioned him at the meeting with James but now we actually know him, I mean we don't know much about him but we know him. Did you guys expect me to throw him into the story? I know I didn't expect me to throw him into the story. It was kind of a last minute thing. <strong>

**James now as Justin following Adele around? What is James planning? What **_**is**_** his master plan? Is Justin the enemy? He doesn't seem like it but that doesn't mean he's not. :p **

**And what about Elijah? What's up with his interest in Adele? Hm. I guess you'll just have to wait and find out. **

**I'm thinking about 6 reviews if not more for the next chapter. **

**(: **

**~LetSparksFly**


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30? Wow. Lolz. Sorry it took so long to update, I've had a slight case of writers block so if this chapter isn't all your expecting, I'm sorry about that to. Thank you all for your support as well. I'm hoping to get as many reviews for this chapter as I did for chapter 29 if not more. That would be awesome. Anyways, I really hope you enjoy this chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 30: The Dinner Party<strong>

Careful not to tare it, Adele pulls the picture of her and Michael from a party they went to a year ago out of the frame of her mirror and moves it up a space before she puts in its place a picture of Tony that she took off her wall. Under that she places a photo she just printed out, a photo she took not too long ago in way to get his attention away from staring at her. The picture is of Damon, standing in her kitchen in a black long sleeved shirt with an expression that indicates to her he was in deep thought about something.

Her eyes linger on the photo, her thoughts wandering onto him. She wonders what he's doing right now. He's probably with Andie. The thought leaves a bitter taste in her mouth but she did basically tell him to find someone other than her. She can't be mad that he actually did, not that she really believes he even actually likes Andie for more than sex and blood. It's his way of distracting himself from there messed up non-exist relationship and the extra drama of there every day lives but still the thought of them together is sickening.

Sighing she grabs her phone and car keys from the dresser before heading out of her bedroom. As she's nearing the stairs her name is called and she turns around smiling at her brother, it's been a few days since she's seen him let alone talked to him. "Yeah?"

"Can I uh…talk to you for a minute?" Adele looks from him to the front door at the bottom of the stairs before looking back at him. "Sure." She says moving into his room. She sits on the edge of his bed, watching as he closes the door before pulling up his desk chair and plopping down into it.

"So I have this problem…well it's not so much a problem. More like a situation and I need advice on exactly how to handle it." He explains and Adele nods waiting for him to continue. "I…well I kind of kissed Bonnie last night." Adele's eyes widen but she still doesn't say anything. She's waiting for him to finish. "I really like her and I…I'm pretty sure she still thinks of me as her best friends little brother."

Scratching the top of her head Adele thinks for a minute. Jeremy likes Bonnie. He kissed Bonnie. Bonnie has been the girl she's been feuding with since forever, the girl who is just now becoming something more to her then just an enemy. "Okay…Well I think the first thing you should do is ask yourself is if you've gone completely crazy."

Jeremy frowns at her. "I'm serious."

"So am I." She mutters and he sends her a look.

"Adele."

"Okay fine. I'm sorry. Years of resentment towards each other doesn't just go away overnight. We might be better around each other now but we have a long road ahead before those years are forgotten." She explains and Jeremy sighs. He knew that, it is why he asked Adele for advice instead of Elena, because Adele would be more concerned about his getting hurt where Elena would be worried for the both of them.

"Kissing her probably showed her you're more than just Elena's little brother so maybe just find out exactly where her mind is before you do anything drastic…" Adele trails off with a shrug and already Jeremy is coming up with many different ideas in his head. "Okay." He mummers as one idea stands out among the rest.

Adele moves to stand. "One more thing…" She looks back down at him. "If this goes anywhere, you're okay with it right? Like you said years of resentment…"

Adele smirks. "Does it really matter what I think? You'll date her anyways."

"True." He laughs. "But I still want to know."

"Sure it's kind of weird and shocking but truth be told you could do worse. Bonnie isn't…horrible."

Leaving Jeremy with that, she leaves the house quickly to avoid an uncomfortable run in with John and jogs over to the large truck parked along the street. Coming over to the passenger side, she slides in easily and is met with a slight smirk from Justin. "Don't say anything, just drive." She demands causing him to laugh and pull the truck away from the curb.

~x~

After explaining to Alaric that Andie will keep their secrets because he's compelled her to when Alaric suggested they not talk about Elijah and Jenna in front of her his thoughts shift over completely to the major matter at hand. Getting rid of Elijah. He needs to get rid of the guy sooner rather than later especially with what they found out yesterday. He also needs to talk to Adele. He needs to see how she is doing. After leaving in such a hurry yesterday, she hadn't picked up the phone when he tried to call.

And just like that, he hears her. She's laughing, a bubbly laugh that almost makes him smile. Looking up he sees her stepping through the entrance of The Grill followed closely behind that Justin guy she had with her yesterday. As if sensing his stare, her eyes lift and meet his from across the room. Out of habit he mentions her over and she glances up at Justin before pulling him along behind her, towards there booth and Damon just now notices there connected hands.

"Justin, I didn't officially introduce you to Alaric or Damon yesterday." She says as she stops beside them and Alaric looks up somewhat surprised. He hadn't seen her or heard her come in and she's with a guy. A guy she's holding hands with. Alaric suddenly feels protective. He wants to reach over and pry their hands apart but he holds back choosing just to shake the guy's free hand instead. Damon sends him a nod of acknowledgement.

"How did you guys meet again?" Alaric is glad Damon asked first. He didn't want to seem too nosy but he wanted to know why they seemed so close. He understands Damon, he understands Tyler and he understands Michael –though he hasn't officially met him– but this guy is a mystery, there for he is a threat. It's such a father like thought that it causes a cold wave of realization to wash over him. Adele and Elena had become so close to him that he actually thought of them as daughters.

"We met in Florida. He was just passing through and decided a visit was in store. Right?" She turns her blue eyes up to Justin who nods in agreement but stays otherwise silent. "We became close friends real fast." Adele adds causing Damon to nod.

"Yeah you two seem real friendly." His tone is sharp suggesting that his meaning of friendly is a lot different than hers and she sends him a tight smile.

"Yeah, well friends are friendly with each other right?" She shoots back with the same sharpness and Damon's blue eyes narrow in on her.

"He was just making an observation. There's no need to be rude to him." Adele blinks her expression twisting into one of confusion as her eyes leave Damon to look at Andie. She had completely forgotten about the reporter attached to his side.

"I know who I'm talking to and it isn't you." If Damon thought she sounded rude when she was talking to him, he didn't know what to think about her regarding Andie. She sounded unimpressed and completely uncivil making Alaric's eyes widen in surprise and Andie's face turn a bright red color and Damon's not sure if it's from embarrassment or anger, he figures it's the later seeing her glare directed at the blonde a few seconds later.

Damon clears his throat in a hope that it'll take the two woman's attention off of each other but it doesn't, they continue to glare with an equal amount of dislike. So maybe calling her over here with Andie there as well wasn't his best idea ever. He searches for a distraction and finds one in the form of Jenna and Elijah.

"Oh. There's Jenna with her new boyfriend." He teases and all at once everyone turns towards the entrance of The Grill.

"What is Jenna doing with Elijah?" Adele asks turning back to look between Damon and Alaric. Neither of them has an answer for her as Damon calls the two over as well and Justin tugs on her hand, with a sigh she moves over letting Jenna and Elijah stand beside them.

The uncomfortable tension that had surrounded them since she snapped at Andie only intensifies with Elijah's presences and she moves, lifting Justin's hand and putting herself under his lifted arm before bringing it back down and keeping a tight hold on his hand, taking comfort in him. She ignores the not so subtle glare Damon directs at them as she does. If he can use Andie as a distraction then she can use Justin for comfort. It's not like Justin seems to mind anyways as he pulls her closer into his side when Elijah's eyes lands on them.

"Hey guys." Jenna smiles, ever so oblivious to the tension as Alaric glares at Damon.

"So I heard you two had quite a meeting of the historical minds today." Damon comments just to piss Alaric off more.

"Yeah I guess you could say that." Jenna laughs glancing up at Elijah who smiles back.

Alaric collects his phone, keys and wallet from the table. "Well as much as I would like to continue this…" He pulls a couple bucks from his wallet and throws them on the table before standing up. "I have papers to grade." As he moves out of the booth Andie speaks up.

"You know we should continue this…Let's have a dinner party." She suggests which causes Damon to turn to her because that's actually not a bad idea. It would give him the opportunity he needs to get rid of Elijah.

"Oh, my girl. Full of good ideas." Andie glows with the small praise and the mention of 'my girl' before smirking in Adele's direction only to see the blonde isn't paying any attention to them as she whispers something to Justin who nods. "I'll be happy to host." He adds in what seems like an afterthought. "Say tonight maybe?"

"Tonight's good for me, Jenna?" Andie asks turning to look up at Jenna.

"Nah, you know I don't know if tonight…" Says Alaric at the same time Jenna says, "I'm free." Alaric looks at her before turning back to Damon and Andie with a tight smile. Damon then turns to Elijah who is glancing around at all of them.

"I'll go…" His gaze suddenly lands on Adele who eyes widen slightly at being noticed. She was hoping to just slip under the radar on this one. "If Miss. Gilbert would be ever so kind as to join me, I would feel much like a fifth wheel if I had to go alone." Damon's smile falls as does Alaric's fake one while Andie's appears, Jenna just stares not exactly sure what to think while Justin tightens his arm around her. Adele shifts from foot to foot as she stares at Elijah trying hard to ignore the burn of everyone's stare.

She takes a minute to answer but when she does Damon wants to scream at her, he wants to drag her out of The Grill and demand she go home and not leave her house at all tonight. "Yeah, I would love to." Elijah, Jenna and Alaric soon leave after figuring out times and that Adele would meet Elijah at the house.

"Kitten…" Adele's blue eyes meet Damon's and he points to the other side of the booth where Alaric was sitting just moments ago. "Sit." He demands and She does so, sliding into the booth with ease while dragging Justin down with her.

"Kitten…" There's an edge to his voice that makes Adele flinch back. He was one step away from calling her by her real name and that was never good when it came to Damon's anger when directed at her, it also would seem he was having trouble forming a full sentence which makes her want to sink down into the booth and hope it would swallow her. She knew exactly what was wrong but doesn't exactly see the big deal. "Kitten…" He tries again but once again words seem to fail him.

"Damon." She whispers back as his eyes burn into her, forgetting about Andie and Justin as he stares at her. He finally blinks a long sigh escaping as he runs a hand through his dark hair roughly.

"I…I want you to go find Elijah and tell him something came up and you can't make it." He finally gets out and Adele bites her lip sitting up a bit straighter in the booth but still doesn't fully meet his gaze. She doesn't want to argue with him, especially because he's seems so mad. They would both just end up angry with each other again and she doesn't like fighting with him.

"I can't do that." She says as softly as possible.

Damon blinks at her his hand balling into a fist on the table. If he had known, if he had thought for one second that Elijah would ask for Adele to be his 'date' to this dinner party he would've shot the idea straight to hell the second it left Andie's mouth. His plan to get rid of Elijah had nothing to do with Adele. For his own state of mind he needed her as far away from the scene as possible, it could get dangerous and while sure he worries somewhat of Jenna and Andie being there it's possible for him to push back those worries for the greater picture here but Adele being caught up in what could turn deadly very fast was going to weigh on his mind heavily throughout the whole night now.

"I _need_ you to not come tonight." He manages and she sighs brushing a piece of hair out of her face as she looks back at him.

"I have to. I can't back out on this now that I agreed to go." His fist slams against the table causing a few bystanders to look over and Andie and Adele to jump.

"Adele…" He whispers heatedly and Adele leans forward onto the table, shooting her own hand out to grab his tightly clenched fist.

"Damon." She whispers back and works to unclench his fist and when it is unclenched she intertwines her fingers with his ignoring the heat that spreads through her body at the simple touch and finally meets his gaze fully. "Calm down." He grips her hand back tightly, holding onto the little bit of self-control he can. "Look at who you're talking to for a second will you? You know who I am, you know what I can handle and this I can handle. It's a simple dinner party and I know you. After tonight we –hopefully– won't have to worry about this ever again. It isn't me you should worry about. It's my clueless Aunt and your little puppet over here that you need to worry about."

Andie glares at the name but both Adele and Damon are so focused on each other; they don't notice her or Justin. He studies her for a few more seconds before nodding slowly and she squeezes his hand before pulling away and she misses the contact immediately. She hates what just a simple touch can do to her. She was just holding Justin's hand like that but that hadn't felt nearly as intimate or had half the effect on her that Damon's touch did. It's infuriating and exciting all at once and she wants to scream.

Sighing she sits back. "I'll see you tonight Damon." She says after a moment before mentioning Justin to get out of the booth. He does and she follows him out before looking down at Damon. "Don't stress too much about this. Kept in mind the main goal, he needs to go. Elena can't stay at the cabin forever." Damon gives her another nod before she takes Justin's hand again and leads him away. Shaking his head he takes his wallet out and throws some money onto the table before getting up and Andie rushes to follow him as he practically jogs from the building. He needs to make sure this dagger of Johns is the real deal.

~x~

"That…was intense." Justin comments as they take a seat at a different table, one that only sits two. Adele nods in agreement running a hand through her hair. "Does he do that often? Freak out about you going to a dinner party?"

Adele laughs. "No and he wouldn't even care if it wasn't that Elijah had been the one to ask me. He has…not so honorable intentions tonight that could go very bad in a matter of seconds and he's…protective. He doesn't try to tell me what to do or anything which I thank him for but he does try to sway me into doing something else if he doesn't like the idea of what I'm doing. His protective side gets kind of annoying but it's who he is so…" She trails off.

"Well I can't say I really blame him…" Adele's not sure if that comment was meant for her or if he was just saying it to himself as he glances down at the table with a slight frown before looking back up with his smirk back in place. "It's not like you mind. If anything you thrive on it. You like every bit of attention you can get from him. It's the reason you're so hostile towards that Andie chick. His attention is now split between you two and you're completely jealous."

Adele opens her mouth to fire a witty comment back at him that will not only deny his claim but mock him for even making it but closes it when she realizes she doesn't have one, so she settles for a duller response. "I am not."

He laughs obviously having caught her stagger for a comeback only for her to come up with that. "You are totally jealous and you know it. It was all over the way you snapped at her for that comment about being rude to him and then the glare you directed at her was just deadly."

"She had no right to tell me I was rude to him. I know I was rude to him, I meant to be rude. I spoke to him in the same way he spoke to me. That's how it works with us and she needs to learn that."

"Well she only did that because she's jealous of you. There's a lot of jealousy going on around here. A lot of drama it would seem."

Adele snorts. "Yeah if the world was as accepting of vampires as my family is we could be the most dysfunctional realty T.V show _ever_."

"I'd watch it." He mutters before his sage colored eyes land on the locket around her neck as the dim lightening catches it. Adele who is busy texting someone doesn't notice his stare. He had seen her wearing it at the meeting with James, he had seen her wearing it while jogging yesterday and she had even had it on when they we're sparring last night.

"What is that?" He finally voices, his curiosity getting the better of him. It must be something important to her if she never takes it off. He's tempted to reach up to his own neck and finger the semi thick chain there.

Adele turns her attention away from her phone long enough to look down at where he's pointing, upon seeing it's the locket he's referring to she sighs. She's been wondering the same thing for a while now. "A locket it would seem."

"Well yeah but where did you get it? I mean it must have some sentimental value if you wear it every day, unless you just love it that much."

"I actually don't know where I got it from. It just kind of showed up one day and now I just wear it, I'm surprised no one else has asked me about it." She shrugs letting her thoughts slip from the locket. She would rather not think about it right now, it'll just confuse her.

~x~

She doesn't bother with knocking, why would she? The boarding house is after all her second home. She slips past the dining room without Andie or Jenna spotting her and makes her way into the study, her heels clicking against the wooden floors and alerting Damon to her arrival. Grabbing another glass he fills it half way up with bourbon before holding it above his head where he feels her fingers slip over his to take it. Once the glass is out of his hand and into hers he closes the bottle and turns around with his own glass in his hand.

His eyes find her sipping from the glass and he takes in the outfit she'd changed into. A short grey sweater dress with a weird happy face stitched into the front with a pair of black heels. The dress is only slightly loose on her but you can still make out her delicate curves and the heels make her already long legs look even longer. He curses. "What are you wearing?" He finds himself asking and she frowns at him as she lowers the glass.

"Excuse me?"

"Why did you change? What you we're wearing earlier was fine." Alaric looks between the two, he had to agree with Damon but he wasn't about to say anything.

"I was wearing yoga pants and a t-shirt Damon. I decided if I have to come I might as well put in some sort of an effort. What's wrong with what I'm wearing? Does it not look good or something?" She crosses her arms, standing her ground against him like she always does.

"You look fine." Alaric assures her, sending Damon a look that tells him to shut up before he starts something but of course he ignores him.

"You look better then fine which is the problem. Elijah doesn't need any more of a reason to notice you." Adele rolls her blue eyes at him but decides it's best not to even response. Instead she takes another sip of her drink. Damon downs his own drink in one gulp before turning back to the table and refilling it.

"You know…this is a bad idea." Alaric says finally stepping up to air his concerns.

"There's no such thing as a bad Ideas." Damon counters.

"Yeah just poorly executed ones." Adele says with a small hint of sarcasm.

"Poorly executed _awesome _ones." Damon corrects, smirking at her.

"I don't like the idea of Elijah being in the same house as Jenna…or Adele for that matter." Alaric says softly and before Adele can speak up on her behalf Damon beats her to it.

"This is just a fact finding mission." Alaric and Adele look at each other before turning back to Damon. "It's totally harmless."

"A fact finding mission?" Alaric asks not believing him at _all_.

"Yeah." Damon shrugs and Adele turns her head away, sipping from the glass to hide her smile.

"Listen, no sneak attacks, no surprise plans, nothing that's going to put them in harm's way." Alaric warns and Adele snorts a laugh as Damon raises two fingers. "Scouts honor." He mutters but Alaric doesn't look convinced. Damon slaps him on the shoulder just as Andie appears on the steps leading down into the Den.

"Hey…Jenna needs help with the wine." She announces and Alaric looks between them all before nodding and leaving with a small smile to Andie as he passes her. Adele turns to Damon the second Alaric closes the door behind him.

"I want to see this dagger." Damon mentions her forward and she follows him over to a desk as he pulls a wooden box over to him. Andie comes up on the other side of him as he opens the box and pulls out something wrapped in a white cloth. Unwrapping the cloth, he pulls from it an ancient looking dagger and Adele's eyes widen as he holds it out to her.

She takes it turning it around in her hands, inspecting it from all angles as he pulls out a small glass bottle from the box as well. "What is that?" Andie asks as Adele hands the dagger back to him. "Dessert." He answers as he opens the bottle. "Elijah is stronger than me…" He dips the dagger into the bottle before pulling it back out and resealing the bottle. "He's faster than me. It's all about the element of surprise."

"Aw. It's too bad, I like him. He's very old school, classy." With a raised eyebrow Adele turns her head to look at Andie but decides not to say anything as Damon turns to her as well.

"Which is why you should encourage the gentlemen to take there after dinner drinks in here while you do coffee in the kitchen with the girls." He says as he passes her to place the dagger among the bottles of alcohol.

"Mm. That is a little to sexist for me." Andie mentions as she moves to stand behind Damon. Adele rolls her eyes leaning back against the table watching them. Damon turns back around placing his hand on Andie's shoulders. "Stop talking." With that he turns her around and Adele can see the frown on her face before it turns into a smile and she walks off with a shrug leaving the two of them.

Damon's eyes fall on her and she smirks. "Puppet." She mouths as the doorbell rings and he shakes his head pointing towards the front of the house. She laughs moving over to the steps as he comes up behind her. He takes her hand and like earlier he intertwines their fingers together and moves in front of her pulling her along in front of him directing her in the direction of the front door.

As they turn the corner there met with the sight of John Gilbert stepping into the house as Jenna holds the door open. "Who invited him?" She asks as she sees them and Damon drops her hand. "John…surprise." He says as he pushes past him to the door. "Leave." He swings in arm out mentioning to the outside of the house as Adele crosses her arms and glares at her "father" as he gives her a long look before turning to Damon.

"When Jenna told me she was coming to a dinner party for Elijah I decided I couldn't miss out on all the fun and games." He explains as Jenna pushes off the door and stalks into the other room.

"Actually John there isn't going to be any games. It's just a friendly dinner party." Alaric speaks up as he comes into the room.

"That means leave." Adele snaps and John's eyes fall back onto her. "What are you even doing here?"

"I was invited unlike you." Damon closes the door and moves to stand beside Adele only to be glared at by John. "You invited her to a dinner party with Elijah?"

"I didn't. Elijah invited her. It doesn't matter because like she said she was invited and you we're not but if you're going to stay which I'm sure you are let's all be civil with one another and have a good time." With that said John passes them to go into the dining room and Adele turns on Damon.

"I don't want him here! Nobody wants him here!" She whispers.

"I know but what can I do?"

"Kick him out! This is your house, tell him to get lost!" Damon grabs her arm guiding her further into the house. "I can't do that and you know it. Go upstairs and clam yourself down." She huffs pulling her arm from him as he stops by the stairs before beginning up them. "And change!" He calls after her.

~x~

She lays back against the pillows of the bed as she flips through the channels on the T.V. If she could stay up here all night she would. If she had known for a second that John was going to show up tonight she would've told Elijah no when he asked her to be here with him tonight.

She wants nothing to do with him. When he was just an uncle and only ever came around maybe twice a year she was fine with him, she had no problem with the guy but now that she knows the truth and with the last time she saw him he was trying to kill Damon everything she's ever thought about the man has shifted. She hates him almost as much as she hates Isobel.

She's snapped from her thoughts with a jump as her cell phone rings on the bedside table next to her where she had hooked it up to its charger that she left in this room when she stormed out so fast a couple days ago. Reaching over she picks it up and smirks at the names flashing across the screen.

"Hello?"

"Short stuff…are you avoiding me?" Adele can already feeling her bad mood lifting. If there was anyone who could make her feel better it was Michael but she had been avoiding him though she was never going to attempt that to him. Ever since Tyler mentioned to her that Michael figured out she's hiding something she decided she needed to be extra careful around him in which brought her to the decision to stay completely away from him and since Jasmine spent most of her time with him, she was avoiding her as well…semi avoiding her anyways. "Of course not."

"Mhm. I'm sure you're not. Jasmine mentioned you stopped by…while I was at work."

"Aw Mikey, do you miss me?"

"Pfft no. I'm just wondering why I let you convince me to take AP Calculus when you never show up and yet you still makes A's." She sucks in a breath.

"Yeah well that's one benefit of my aunt dating my history teacher. He can bring me my work. You know I've been meaning to ask you…how are things with you and Jasmine?" She asks wanting to change the subject quickly. She didn't want him asking why she's been missing so much school. She'd be vague with her answer and raise his suspicions even more.

"Things are…good." He answers slowly and she can just see the smirk on his face.

"Good? By that tone of voice I would say things are a little more than good." She pin-points. "Mikey please tell me your being safe. I don't want to deal with any Mikey Jr. anytime soon." She teases causing him to let out a barely audible 'oh my god' and a laugh.

"You do realize talking about my sex life with my ex-girlfriend is supposed to be awkward right?" It's Adele's turn to laugh.

"Yes actually I do, but it's not awkward and you know it."

"Exactly my point. What is wrong with us? We are not normal people short stuff."

"Who in the world ever said we we're? Technically we we're friends before we started dating and you wouldn't want it any other way. If it was awkward, we wouldn't be so close now and I know you can't live without me."

"I don't want to give you the satisfaction of being right knowing how big your ego already is…" Adele lets out a "oh!" but knowing he's only messing with her she laughs and he continues. "But I do have to agree with you."

Before she responds she has the sense that someone is watching her and looking up she spots Andie standing in the doorway of the room. Sighing she straightens up. "I'm going to have to call you back."

"Oh god. I know that tone Adele. Please don't kill anyone. I'm not there to smooth talk your way out of jail." Adele laughs once more.

"I make no promises. Goodbye Mikey." With that she hangs up placing her phone back on the bedside table before looking back towards Andie who is watching her closely.

"I…I was just coming up to use the bathroom; I didn't realize you we're in here." Andie speaks up after a moment of uncomfortable silence and Adele shrugs a shoulder in response.

"Well I needed a bit of privacy." She mutters picking at the hem of her dress.

"Well there are other rooms besides this one." Adele lifts her eyes back to Andie just to see the woman has placed her hands on her thin hips which causes Adele to frown.

"I know that but I chose this room. You know there's other bathrooms right? There's one right down stairs." She counters crossing her arms across her chest and folding her legs underneath her.

"I wanted to freshen up before Elijah gets here."

"You can freshen up in any bathroom, like the one downstairs." It's the second time she's mentioned the bathroom downstairs and she thinks maybe Andie would get the hint but she doesn't as she steps fully into the room moving her hands away from her hips to cross her arms across her chest as well.

"Well I want to use this one." Adele would tell her to use the bathroom then but considering Damon's bathroom doesn't have a door and she doesn't want to be within 50 feet of the woman she doesn't say anything like that.

"If you're expecting me to leave so you can use the bathroom, it's not going to happen. I was here first and like I've mentioned before there is a bathroom down stairs."

Andie stares at her which causes Adele to roll her eyes in frustration. "That means get out." She finally snaps because apparently Andie is too small minded to understand that when she mentioned the bathroom downstairs for the third time, she wanted her to leave.

"You can't tell me to get out. This isn't your room. If anything I should be able to tell you to get out because this is _my_ boyfriend's room." Adele can't help the small laugh that she lets out and it soon turns into a full fit of laughter that has her gripping her sides, this just seems to piss Andie off more. "It's cute that you think that." Adele says after she clams down a bit and with nothing else to say to her that won't end up with the two of them in a fight, she flips over onto her stomach and grabs her phone from the bedside table.

With a small cry of frustration on Andie's part and laugh another from Adele, Andie turns around and storms out leaving Adele in a peace full silence that is only broken when someone clears there throat from the doorway and Adele turns over ready to tell whoever is standing there this time to get lost before she realizes exactly who it is and she sits back up.

"Elijah…"

"Hello Adele. I'm sorry if I startled you." There was no point in denying it because he did startle her. "It's fine. I was half expecting Andie to have come back but you're a much more welcomed face." And she wasn't lying; she'd rather be trapped in a room by Elijah then by Andie. At least this way she knows there's no chance of her murdering anyone.

"Yes, I've noticed you two seem a bit…hostile towards each other. I'm guessing that has to do with the older Salvatore brother. If you don't mind me asking…why is he dating her if he's so fond of you?"

"I told him to move on. I told him I want him to be happy."

"Why is that? You obviously want him as much as he wants you? Why not go for it?"

"It's complicated. He thinks I'm still in love with my dead fiancé which I do still love him but I've moved on. It's not Tony that I'm worried about, I can't tell him that though. I don't want to put him in danger." Elijah steps into the room, his eyes roaming over everything as the truthful answers to the questions he's asking just seem to slip out and she wants to slap a hand over her mouth.

"What kind of danger?"

Adele watches him closely, finally hesitating with an answer. Should she really tell him? Justin said something about others having run in's with Original's. Maybe he'll know something.

"A society of vampire hunters run by a guy named James. I don't know what his last name is. I don't know anything about him and I barely know anything about the stupid society besides the fact that they want to recruit me and they killed my fiancé and a few others because of it."

"Mm. Interesting." He mummers and the way he does, the way his eyes shine in that way, tells Adele he knows exactly what she's talking about.

"Do you…do you know anything about them?" she asks softly and he stops at the edge of the bed, looking down at her.

"I know very little. I've only ever encountered a handful of them. They've never bothered me with good reason of course but I do know how dangerous they can be. What a great threat to regular vampires they can be. I will say that they are taught and trained very well, not something I think you should be missing around in though. It just doesn't…fit you. There's something about you…something I can't place."

"I wasn't planning on getting mixed up with them. I'm just trying to be careful. I'm trying to play it safe until I know it's okay, that they will leave me alone." She explains ignoring his comment about there being something about her. Something about the way he's studying her makes her think Damon might have been right when he said Elijah has more of an interest in her then he should.

"I've heard stuff over the years as well but like I said I don't know much, one thing I do know is that from what I've…heard is that when they want something they usually get it, one way or another." He explains causing her to laugh a dry and humorless laugh.

"Oh yes, thank you. That's just what I wanted to hear." Is her sarcastic reply.

"It's not the…best of information considering your situation but it's all I have. If there is anything I can do to help just ask." Adele blinks up at him in surprise. He's offering his help to her yet he's trying to kill her sister…it's almost unreal.

"What is this Elijah?" She finds herself asking surprising herself even more so but also surprising him.

"I don't understand." He mutters.

"I understand your interest in Elena but I don't get this. What is your interest in me?" She swings her legs over the side of the bed standing up to face him. She unhooks her phone from its charger as well.

"I have plans for Elena but I have no such plans for you if that is what you're asking. The interest I show in you is just that, an interest. There is something captivating about you Miss. Gilbert. I don't think you realize the effect you have on most people." Adele nods slowly as she studies him, looking for any sign that he might be lying but can't find any.

"Shall we join the others?" He asks stepping towards her and holding out an arm. Slowly she steps up and loops her arm through his sending him a small smile as she does. If Adele didn't know any better, she could believe that Elijah was just a very normal, very charming guy. There didn't seem to be anything remotely evil about him besides the fact he's planning on handing her sister over to be killed. She feels almost bad about what Damon is planning tonight.

~x~

The small talk around the table was surprisingly pleasant and Adele found that talking to Elijah was really entertaining. He had a lot of great points of views on things and his insight into the past fascinated her. Damon seemed to notice this as he watches the two closely.

"I hate to break it to you Damon…" Everyone's attention turns to Jenna as she's refilling Damon's wine glass. "But according to Elijah your family is so not a founder of this town."

"Oh. Do tell." Damon says picking up the wine glass as he turns to look at Elijah with a tight smile.

"Well as I mentioned to Jenna earlier a faction of settlers migrated from Salem after the witch trails in the 1690's." Elijah says as he regards everyone around the table. "Over the next hundred years they developed this community where they could feel safe and persecution."

"Because they we're witches." Jenna whispers like it's some big amazing secret which causes Adele to smile in her direction.

"Well there's no tangible proof that there was ever witches in Salem." Adele's smile wavers slightly as she looks at Andie. It looks like Damon hasn't actually told her everything after all.

"Andie's a journalist, big on facts." Damon winks at Andie who smiles back at him and Adele averts her eyes, looking up to Elijah as he starts to speak.

"Well, the lore says that there was this wave of anti-witch hysteria. It broke out in the neighboring settlement, so these witches were rounded up. They were tied to stakes in a field together and, uh, burned. Some say you could hear the screams from miles around us. They were consumed by the fire." He explains before mentioning to something on the table and looking at Alaric. "Could you pass the..."

"Yeah, I wouldn't repeat this to the Historical Society." Jenna laughs and Adele snorts. That would be a good idea seeing as the Historical Society is made up mostly of people who think they know it all and when you tell them something isn't right they –for lack of a better term– flip a bitch.

"It's starting to sound a little like a ghost story to me." John speaks up, he much like Adele and Alaric has stayed silent through-out this little trip through history, Adele has to stop herself from glaring over at him at the end of the table. Nobody has a comment to his statement.

"So, why do you want to know the location of these alleged massacres?" Damon asks after a moment of silence and Elijah looks up from his plate sending a smile to everyone around the table before answering. "You know... a healthy historian's curiosity, of course."

"Of course." Damon mutters with another tight smile.

~x~

"Would anyone care for some Cognac?" Damon asks with his arms out as everyone finishes up with dinner. Adele can't help but roll her eyes. _Here we go. _She thinks to herself but there's another part of her that thinks this can't be that easy and that they still can't trust anything John says. "I have a bottle that I've been saving for ages." He adds as he pushes up from the table followed by Jenna and Andie.

"None for me thanks. Nine bottles of wine is my limit." Alaric jokes causing a few chuckles from around the table as everyone else moves to stand as well. Adele see's the subtle glance Damon sends to Andie before she speaks up. "The gentlemen should take their drinks in the study." It was just like Damon told her to say and Adele suppress laugh as she looks to him for approval which he gives to her in the form of a smirk.

"I have to say the food was almost as wonderful as the company." Elijah mentions glancing at Andie who smiles back at him.

"I like you." She practically sings and Adele wants to roll her eyes once again at her but doesn't. Instead she sends Elijah a smile as he passes by her to follow Damon into the study. She catches Alaric's eye a moment later and she knows damn well that he knows exactly what is going on.

"You're not a gentlemen. Make yourself useful." Jenna hands a stake of plates off to John who glares at her in return before walking off with them and this time Adele does laugh which causes Jenna to smile over to her as Alaric comes up behind her. "Here, here. Put me to work."

Jenna turns to look at him with a hand full of plates and silverware. "Um, I got it." She says softly and before she can walk away Alaric grabs her arm. "Hey, Jenna, are you…are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Ric." She pulls her arm from his grip and walks away making a point to avoid John as he reappears in the room.

"I suspect this is my fault." He says and Adele moves over to their side of the table.

"What did you do John?" She groans and he glances at her for a spilt second before looking back to Alaric. "I merely mentioned to her that you haven't been completely honest about your dead wife." So fast that it causes Adele to jump, Alaric reaches out and grabs John by the collar of his shirt. "You son of bitch." Rushing forward Adele pries his hands from John's shirt. "Not here Ric." She warns before turning on John.

"How dare you. You have no right to be crawling around in other people's business. Have you ever stopped to consider there are reasons we don't tell her these things? That maybe we care about her enough to try and keep her save?" She snaps at him and it enrages her more when he looks at her like a child who doesn't know what she's talking about before regarding Alaric one last time.

"I think I've been very clear with you, Ric. I want my ring back." Adele shakes her head as she watches him walk off. "And he wonders why Elena and I hate him so much." She mutters to herself before Alaric's phone goes off.

"Hello." Alaric answers it with a frustrated sigh. "Slow down. Slow down. Stefan?" Adele looks up at him with crossed arms as his facial expression turns from anger to confusion to shock in a matter of seconds. "Got it." With that he hangs up looking down to Adele's questioning blue eyes.

"The dagger will kill any non-human who uses it. John is trying to kill both Elijah and Damon, we have to stop him." He explains as briefly as he can and Adele's eyes widen. She turns her head, looking for something, any reason they might have to barge into the study on Damon and Elijah. "Andie!" She finally calls and the woman is there with in seconds. "We forgot dessert." Adele laughs causally. "Can you come with me to the study to get Elijah?"

Though Andie isn't fond of the girl, there is obviously something going on so she nods and follows the blonde and Alaric as they practically run towards the study. Adele barges through the door with a small laugh directed at the two males. Damon quickly hides the dagger behind his back as Adele bounces down the steps with Alaric behind her.

"Gentlemen, we forgot dessert." Alaric announces as Adele nods a bright and convincing smile on her pretty face, from behind them Andie holds out a hand to Elijah. "Elijah?"

"Miss Star." He hands his glass to Damon who drains it in one gulp before taking her hand gently and twirling her around before leading her from the room and once there out of sight, Damon hits the back of Alaric's shoulder while making a "What the hell" face to Adele who shakes her head pointing to the dagger Damon has now laid back on the table.

Damon lifts his arms in "What?" question, Alaric moves over to the desk pulling out a piece of paper and a pen, scribbling something down on it before handing it to Damon.

_The dagger will kill you if you use it. _

Damon throws the paper angrily back at Alaric who swats it away before all three turn to leave the room, Adele a head of them both. Jenna is telling them that dessert is taking longer than she thought and that she usually just unwraps food. Andie takes her seat across from Elijah and waits till Jenna leaves the room to speak.

"I know this is a social thing, but I... I would really love to ask you some more questions about the work that you're doing here."

"I would love to answer." Elijah responses earning a bright smile from the journalist who glances up at the guys as they enter the room behind Adele who is already seated, suppressing a glare in John's direction at the other end of the table.

"Great, that's so great. Ric can you do me a favor and grab the notebook out of my bag?" She points off somewhere behind Adele and Elijah. Alaric doesn't answer as he takes a sharp turn into the other room.

"Elijah, did John tell you he's Elena and Adele's uncle/father?" Damon asks leaning his elbows onto the table after sitting down.

"Yes I'm well aware of that." Elijah answers and Adele laughs.

"Of course we hate him. We hate him very much." Adele doesn't do anything to hide the glare she directs at John this time.

"So there's absolutely no need to keep him on the endangered species list." Damon adds as he to sends a glare in the direction of John as well.

"No Ric, it's in the front pocket. In the…you know what? Excuse me, sorry." Andie stands from the table leaving the room to help Alaric but at this point no one is paying any attention to her.

"What I'd like to know, Elijah, is how do you intend on killing Klaus?" John asks ignoring the glares from his daughter and the vampire at the other end of the table.

"There are a few things we should probably get clear right now. I allow you to live solely to keep an eye on Elena. I allow Elena to remain in her house living her life with her friends as she does as a courtesy. If you become a liability, I'll take her away from you and you'll never see her again." Elijah explains to them just as Andie returns with her newly found notebook.

"Okay my first question is…When you got here to Mystic Falls…" Adele's gasps echo's Andie's as there's a sound of ripping cloth and then a scream from Elijah as he jerks up right in his chair. Adele jumps to the side nearly falling off her own chair as she turns her body to look behind them. Her eyes widen as she sees what's happening. Alaric had taken the dagger from the study and shoved it through the chair into Elijah's heart from behind.

Adele is the only one not standing at this point as they watch Elijah twitch for a few seconds as his skin greys before falling limp. Alaric pulls the dagger back out, moving slowly around Adele's chair to place the dagger in front of Damon on the table. "Now, get rid of him before Jenna comes back with dessert."

Blinking away his momentary shock Damon nods. "Okay."

~x~

"I'll be home later, don't worry Aunt Jenna." Adele insures her Aunt as she walks her, John and Andie to the door. The dinner party was officially cut short due to them telling Jenna Elijah had to leave because of an emergency of some sort and there was something Damon needed her and Alaric's help taking care of which was just a lie to allow them to stay without raising to many questions.

"Really? You're going to come home tonight? You didn't come home last night, you snuck in around 5. I heard you." Jenna says and Adele sends her a smirk.

"Who said I was sneaking?" Jenna laughs hugging her tightly before leaving the house. John turns to her, ready to say something but before he can get anything out Adele slaps him, hard across the cheek.

"This is the second time you've tried to kill him. Do it again John, I dare you."

"Is that a threat?" John mutters, his hand coming up to cup his stinging cheek as Andie watches on with wide eyes. She's never witnessed someone threaten their own father before especially for a guy that isn't even hers.

"Yes it is. Get lost." John nods and with his lips pressed together and his fist clenched he leaves the Salvatore Boarding house leaving only Andie and Adele left in the doorway.

"Where is Damon?" Andie asks after blinking away her surprise.

"Disposing of Elijah, he'll call you later." Adele wasn't actually sure if Damon would call her later or not but she would say anything to get rid of her at the point.

"I can just wait for him…"

"Not a good idea, look just go home and let him call you. Don't be a clingy girlfriend, guys hate that." Andie's glare doesn't even faze her as she storms out of the house and Adele rolls her eyes slamming the door closed as Alaric appears. "I think I could use that cognac now." He mutters to her and she laughs despite herself moving to hug him.

~x~

Damon join's them in the study after a moment and Adele holds out a glass to him. "Are you just going to leave him in the cellar forever?" She asks as he reaches to take the glass.

"No. I'll figure out something to do with him." He answers gulping the contents of the glass down in one gulp. "I will tell you though, I am this close…" He holds up his thumb and his index finger holding the tips of those fingers about an inch apart. "To ripping John's heart out."

"Don't waste your energy." Adele mutters sipping from her glass.

"I think Adele has that covered." Alaric speaks up with a smirk and Adele shakes her head. "You heard that?" Alaric nods causing confusion on the part of Damon as he looks between them. "Heard what?" He finally asks as it became clear they weren't going to elaborate.

"Adele threatened John. I'm sorry no she slapped him _then_ she threatened him. Something like she dares him to try and kill you again." Alaric explains with another smirk in Adele's direction.

"It was sweet and simply but he understood it perfectly." She shrugs averting her gaze away from Damon as a slow smirk makes it's away across his face. "You threatened him for me?"

"Don't do that, yes I threatened him for you and I've told him off for Alaric. I hate him okay? No matter what he does, I hate him." Before Damon can say anything his phone rings but he sends her one more knowing smirk before answering it.

"Stefan…" His smirk slowly falls and both Alaric and Adele jump as he takes off back towards the cellar. Adele is about to say something when he reappears looking between them with wide eyes. "He's gone."

"What?" Adele sets her glass down and steps towards him.

"He's gone. We we're supposed to leave the dagger in."

"That means he's alive." Alaric states and while the comment is completely obvious, nobody is in the right state of mind to call him out on it.

"And he's out there somewhere." Adele says. "We broke the deal Damon, we've all just became liability. He's going to go after Elena." She explains and Damon nods, he had realized that as well. "We have to do something." She adds after a moment of silence passes by, all three lost in their own minds.

"We don't have to do anything, I do." He says walking towards the door to the study making sure to grab the dagger on his way.

"You don't know where it is!" She calls after him which causes him to freeze. He curses turning back to look at her. "Fine, give me your keys. I'm driving." Without hesitation Adele runs past him towards the front door where she had placed her keys on the table. She can faintly hear Damon telling Alaric that he'll call him before there both leaving the house Adele throwing her keys to Damon as they run towards her mustang.

~x~

Damon presses his foot harder on the gas, feeling the car surge forward. It gives him a rush of adrenaline, the car drove so smooth and the rumble of the engine was so incredible. He can fully understand why she's so in love with it. He's only driven it twice and he already loves it. Every part of the car was in perfect condition, from the outside to the interior to the engine.

"You know you should let me drive your car more often." Adele's blue eyes turn away from the window to look over at him. She had only agreed to let him drive because they didn't have time to argue, that didn't mean she wasn't freaking out on the inside but if there was anyone she would trust to drive her car it would be Damon seeing as he too owns a classic car and knows how to care for it.

"I don't think so." She mutters turning back to the window.

"I'll let you drive my Camaro." She raises an eyebrow turning back to him. She had been dying to get behind the wheel of that car since she first laid eyes on it.

"Tempting, I'll think about it. Turn right up here."

He does, letting the car glide down the dirt road leading up to a two story cabin and he can see out of the corner of his eye, Adele's face darken as she takes it in. "You okay?" He asks softly and she nods. "Yeah, I just haven't been up here since my parents died. You should park in the back besides the house; it's so dark Elijah won't see the car there for he won't know we're here." She brushes the question off with ease and Damon does as she says.

Damon follows her up to a door that is also on the side of the house while handing her, her keys and watches as she uses a key on her key chain to unlock the door. She steps into the house and turns to him. "Come in." She smiles slightly opening the door wider and Damon's glad she remembered he has to be invited in. He steps into the house returning her smile as he does before his eyes wonder around the room there in. It seems like they've stepped into the kitchen.

Adele sets the keys and her phone on the counter just as Stefan and Elena make it into the room, Stefan having heard them come in. "What are you guys doing here?" Elena asks surprised to see them and Damon holds up the dagger. Confusion spreads across her face before realization replaces it. "Oh no." She mutters. "You pulled it out?"

"How was I supposed to know you have to keep it in?" He asks. "Your _father _left that little piece of information out when he gave me the stupid thing."

"John probably didn't know. He got the dagger from Isobel, so maybe it was her who didn't tell him there for he couldn't exactly tell you." Stefan defends.

"Yeah, well I can bet he did know that the dagger would kill me if I used it." Damon counters and no one has a comment to that because honestly, it was no question in their minds that John did know he just chose not to tell him.

"Well, we need a plan because Elijah is going to be here soon. I know it." Adele speaks up looking between everyone.

~x~

Damon follows Adele down the stairs, after coming up with a plan Adele had decided to take a trip up to her parent's room to take a look at their secret weapons room in person. Seeing the room in person was a lot more surreal then pictures and Adele had wondered in her head why her parents would ever get mixed up with someone like James. It just didn't make sense to her.

As she's nearing the bottom, she's suddenly pulled back a step and pressed chest to chest against Damon. He puts a finger to his lips, narrowing his eyes slightly. "He's here." He whispers after a moment and Adele swallows placing her hands flat against his chest. There are a few moments of silence before the sound of the door being busted in makes her jump and Damon wraps his arms around her, holding her tightly against him.

"Elena is going to talk to him." Damon mouths, having heard Stefan and Elena. Their plan was beginning.

"You know, I might not be able to enter this house but I'm a very patient man…I'll wait you out." Adele doesn't need Damon to hear that. Elijah's voice carries through the opening where the door used to be, right next to the stairs.

"They shouldn't have done what they did." Elena says and Adele turns her head to look towards the bottom of the stairs, seeing her sister standing there.

"The deal is off." With her ear pressed lightly to Damon's chest, she can hear the sound of his heart beat and though she wants to just lean against him and get lost in the sound, she has to focus on the conversion between her sister and Elijah so she does her best to block it out.

"I'm renegotiating."

"You have nothing left to negotiate with." Adele lets the few second of silence be filled with his heart beat before she sees a gleam of silver in her sister's hand. Elena holds the knife up making sure Elijah can see it clearly. This plan wasn't exactly their best, but it would be affective and they we're hoping that Elijah would crack before it would come down to Elena harming herself. "I'd like to see you lure Klaus into Mystic Falls after the doppelganger bleeds to death."

"Stefan won't let you die." Elijah almost laughs.

"No, he won't. He'll feed me his blood to heal me, and then I'll kill myself and become a vampire, just like Katherine did. So unless you want that to happen again, promise me the same as before... promise me... You won't harm anyone that I love. Even if they've harmed you."

"I'm sorry Elena; I'm going to have to call your bluff." Elijah says and Adele almost sighs. All they could've done was hope anyways because obviously Elijah didn't realize the Gilbert families desire to save everyone they love.

Adele watches as Elena nods slowly, moving the knife so it's pointing at her stomach. With a deep breath and closed eyes she plunges the knife deep into her gut with a cry of pain. Adele flinches moving her head so her face is buried in Damon's chest. She hears a cry from Elijah who she can only guess is trying to get into the house.

There's a few moment of stretched out silence at which Elena pulls the knife from her gut and drops it to the ground insuring she'll bleed out faster before Elijah speaks. "Yes. Yes you can have your deal. Let me heal you."

"Give me your word!" Elena yells out through the searing pain.

"I give you my word." Elena stumbles forward into Elijah's arms. He grabs her but before he can make a move to heal her, she takes the dagger from the waist band of her jeans and stabs him with it, straight through the heart. Elijah lets out a gasps of both surprise and pain as his skin for the second time tonight starts to grey and he lets out a small cough before falling to the ground unmoving. Elena weak from blood loss falls as well.

As Damon and Adele hear the rush of wind that could only be Stefan seeing as it's completely still outside they move as well, Damon pulling her down the stairs with a hand still on her hip. They come up in the door way, Adele peeking out from behind Damon as they take in Stefan holding a now healed Elena and a dead Elijah.

"Little tip, don't pull the dagger out." Damon mutters.

~x~

Adele follows the brothers and her sister down to the cellar. She waits in the door way as Stefan and Damon lay Elijah down carefully on the ground, Stefan standing to wrap Elena in his arms as Damon searches through Elijah's jacket pockets.

"Ah, what do we have here?" Damon pulls his hand back holding up the moonstone. "A little moonstone bar of soap. I'll hold on to this." He stands moving towards Adele. Adele meets him half way and wraps herself into his arms, letting him hold her close because tonight has been a pretty stressful night and she just wants him to hug her.

"So that's it? I mean as long as we keep the dagger in there, then he stays dead?" Elena asks from besides Stefan.

"Pretty much." Damon answers and Elena nods. "Okay then…good night." She turns ready to walk out before she seems to think of something else and turns back, looking between the three others in the room.

"You know, you guys want me to fight, fine, I'll fight." Adele feels a rush of relief. Here she was worried about her sister giving herself over to people who want to kill her every time she walks out the door and now that she's telling them she's willing to fight, it's like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders. "But if we're going to do this, you can't keep anything from me anymore. From this moment on, we're doing it my way."

"That seems fair." Damon agrees first.

"Okay." Stefan nods and Elena's eyes fall to her sister who looks back at her before nodding as well. "Yeah, alright." Elena nods. "I promised Jenna I'd be home tonight. I'll follow you out. Bye guys." Damon lets her go, watching as the two sisters disappear from sight.

"You agreed to do it my way quickly. I thought for sure you'd be the one to put up a fight." Elena says as they near the front door. Adele slows down to a stop and Elena stops as well turning to her. "As long as you're agreeing to fight Elena, we'll do it your way, but the minute you stop fighting is the minute we do it my way and you don't want to do it my way. Believe me. It won't be pretty."

"I don't get why you and everyone else can't just accept that I was trying to save you, all of you because I love you."

"For the same reason you can't accept the fact that we can't let you do that. We love you to Elena and we're not about to let you give up your life for us. We're in this together; if you go out we all go out. That's the way it is and that's the way it's going to stay. Accept it so we can move on." Elena nods slowly and holds her hand out. Adele takes it. "I do. I understand now."


	31. Chapter 31

**Sorry it took so long to update. I'm not going to lie, I've been a bit distracted but I'm trying to refocus myself. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter, it's not much but hey, it's something. (: I would love to get past 190 reviews with this chapter. (;**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 31: The House Guest<strong>

As she's pulling up to the school, her cell phone rings in the cup holder causing her to groan. No no no. She decided she was going to school this morning and nothing is going to ruin that. Picking up the phone, she groans again, this time louder. It was just who she expected it to be.

"What's wrong now? I was hoping to have a nice peaceful day at school Damon."

"I'm sorry but there is something I failed to tell you last night, something that happened after you and Elena left. Of course Elena came back but that's not important. Katherine's back." Damon explains as briefly as possible.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Adele exclaims.

"Nope." The voice was mocking, the voice sounded like Elena, the voice was obviously not Elena.

"Wait, she's there? Why is she there? What is she doing there Damon?"

"I'm standing right here you know? If you have something to ask, just ask me." Katherine taunts.

"I'd rather not. I have nothing remotely nice to say to you."

"No, that's a good question! What are you doing here?" That was Elena and Adele now realizes that she's on speaker. They we're obviously having a conversion over at the boarding house that Damon felt she should be involved in.

"When we killed Elijah, it broke the compulsion and freed the bitch from the tomb." Damon explains as Adele reaches over, turning the volume of her radio down.

"How is that possible?" Stefan asks.

"He's an original. They have all sorts of special skills." Katherine answers making Adele's blood boil.

"I don't want you here! Get her out of here!" Elena demands to the brothers and Adele has to agree with her. The brothers need to get rid of her and fast.

"You need me Elena. You all do."

Adele scoffs. "Like hell we do. Why would we need you? To make our life's a living hell? Well news flash sweetheart, this Klaus business has that covered."

"Klaus is exactly why you need me." Katherine's tone is annoyed, looking towards the phone in Damon's hand. The blonde Gilbert had a way of getting under her skin very quickly. "We all want the same thing, Klaus dead. Yet here you all are running around like chickens with their heads cut off."

"We don't need your help and we don't want it!" Adele snaps, she'll agree to let Elena do this her way but she'd be damned if she took help from Katherine.

"And that's incredibly stupid of you!" Katherine snaps back. "Do you know where Klaus is? When he's coming, what he looks like?"

"Oh, you've been locked in a tomb for weeks! Are you really going to sit there and tell us you know _exactly_ where he is right now at this very moment?" She fires back and before Katherine can answer Damon speaks up. "If you know something Katherine, say it or get out."

"Fine. Then I'll just go to The Grill and have some lunch...maybe Aunt Jenna's free for a bite." Katherine taunts and Adele growls muttering something about a little bitch before they hear the dial tone and Damon shakes his head, hanging the phone up and glaring in Katherine's direction.

~x~

"Oh my gosh! Look who it is! Little miss I can skip school _every day_ and still make straight A's." Adele laughs closing her locker and turning in time to be wrapped in a tight hug from Michael.

"You're just jealous, you can't be that awesome."

"Actually, if I'm being truthful, I am. It would make my life so much easier but not everyone can be Adele Gilbert perfect." He says as he leads her away from the lockers and down the hall with an arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"Well I do have to agree but I also have to say that you're looking a lot better than the last time I saw you." He knows she's referring to his sleeping. With two jobs, school and his inability to actually fall asleep, he had been looking almost sick lately.

"Yeah well Jasmine's been giving me this herbal tea crap when I get home from work, swears up and down it's supposed to help me sleep. It seems to be working though it tastes kind of weird."

"Herbal Tea? What kind of Herbal Tea?" Adele mutters narrowing her eyes up at him. He shrugs. "I have no idea, when I ask she just tells me its herbal tea and to drink it. I don't argue. She can get…scary. Not as scary as you but scary none the less."

"Well be good to her, she deserves something good in her life."

"I wouldn't know. I barely know anything about her. She doesn't like to talk about herself." He says with a sigh.

"Well I can't imagine you've told her much about yourself either."

"I've told her things…" He drags the comment out and Adele raises an eyebrow.

"Things? Like things about your sister…?"

"I've told her about my sister. I told her about my past Adele. I told her almost all of it."

Adele is slightly stunned. She hadn't expected that though she's feels kind of glad. Glad Michael found someone he can be honest with, it makes her feel that much more guilty about the secrets she's keeping from him, the secrets she's making Jasmine keep from him.

"She's a 17 year old runaway; you got to give her time. There's things about her past she doesn't like to relive just like there's things about your past you don't like to relive. She'll open up, just be patient."

~x~

Adele tucks herself further away into the corner of the hallway, away from prying eyes and curious ears. "You tried to burn his body with a flamethrower?" She whispers into her phone, which is pressed against her ear.

"Yes, but it didn't work." Damon answers with a frustrated sigh but Adele doesn't exactly hear him, images of Damon holding a flamethrower flashes through her mind, one after another. "You handling a flamethrower? Gosh, I'm sorry I missed that." She jokes because if she was honest the images we're a pretty good turn on, she could only imagine what the real thing would look like.

"In that case remind me to give you a full demonstration of how Elijah's body is completely indestructible." Adele laughs before sobering up and finally running over everything he's said. "So there's no way to dispose of the body?"

"No. It's like Katherine said, indestructible."

"Katherine said? She's still there?"

"Unfortunately. You know when I went and talked to her yesterday about the dagger she failed to mention it would kill me if I used it? So not only did John try to kill me, so did Katherine." He says and Adele rolls her eyes. "Of course because she's a selfish bitch. Damon, I don't want her there. I don't feel right having her around. I don't trust her."

"I don't trust her either but she's right. She has information that we could use and until we find out what she really wants, we'll keep her around."

"You know as well as I do, she has no idea where he is. She knows what he looks like but there is no possible way she knows his exact location, no matter how many sources she has."

"Of course I realize that Kitten. We just need to figure out what she wants and then she's gone. I promise."

"Okay, just be careful around her. Like I said before she's selfish and she's a bitch. I don't trust her, especially around you." She lets slip and curses herself for it.

"What is that supposed to mean? That I'm the weakest when it comes to her?"

"No. I trust you completely, I just…I don't want you getting hurt. I don't want her hurting you." She wants to slap a hand over her forehead. She needs to shut up.

"What about everyone else? You don't want them to get hurt right?" He's mocking her now and she huffs, this is why she doesn't say things like that. "Of course I don't but I...I just…"

"You just want?" He presses and Adele has the urge to stomp her foot and pout like a child. "Stop that."

"Stop what?" He sings and she shakes her head. "You made a promise to me remember? You're not allowed to die, remember that?"

"I remember." He assures a hint of a smirk in his voice.

"Okay. Goodbye Damon."

"Goodbye Kitten." She hangs up the phone and shoves it into the pocket of her sweater. With a deep breath she turns around only to jump back with a gasp, her hand coming up to grip at her chest. "Holy shit Ric! Don't do that!" She all but yells catching the attention of a few bystander, who pauses only briefly to look at them.

"Sorry. I thought you would know I was there. You seem good at noticing people."

"I was on the phone with Damon." She sighs and begins walking, down the hall towards the lunch room, seeing as it was lunch time. "He was filling me in on the fact that as it would turn out Elijah cannot be destroyed, nothing he's tried so far as worked."

"Even fire?"

"Even fire. Oh and Katherine's back." Adele lowers her voice. "When Elijah died, Katherine was freed. We've decided to keep her around for her knowledge on Klaus."

"And by we you mean them?" Alaric asks shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans as they walk and Adele nods. "Exactly. I don't want her here and neither does Elena but I guess the brothers have a point. She knows stuff, stuff we don't know but that doesn't mean I trust her, at all. I really think she's playing us. Anyways, what's up?"

"I need to talk to you, alone." He says mentioning around the hallway, Adele's eyes move around them, seeing that the hall way was pretty busy with students taking their lunch time to socialize and catch up on work.

"Right well I have your class next period anyways, lead the way."

~x~

"Jenna and I got into a fight last night." Alaric finally says after a few minutes of pacing around the room while Adele sits on his desk watching him.

"Really? Well I kind of thought it might be coming…" She mutters more to herself then to him.

"It was bad, Adele. You know, John planted all these seeds about Isobel and now Jenna knows I'm lying about something." Alaric explains hopelessly.

"John is going to end bleeding to death on the kitchen if he doesn't start being careful. There's only so much things he can do before I snap."

"Yeah, easier said than done, I gave him back his ring so…"

"What? Alaric no!"

"I had to. Jenna keeps asking about Isobel. You know, was she murdered? Why haven't they found the body? How much longer can she stay in the dark?" He vents.

"You think we should tell her the truth." It's not a question but Alaric answers her anyways.

"I'm saying I can't be with her and not tell her. It's not fair to her, and it's not the kind of relationship I want."

"Not to mention it's becoming more dangerous for her not to know. I've thought about this to Ric. I lay awake at night thinking about this, but…I just, I don't know how we tell someone about all the things we know. How does someone hear that?"

"In the end it's your decision to make. And whatever you and Elena decide to do, I'll respect it. I want to be honest with her. But until then, Jenna and I are done." Adele wants to run her hands over her head but in the risk of ruining her French braid that turns into a pony tail that took an hour to do this morning, she resist.

"This isn't fair. It isn't fair to you and it isn't fair to her, because you love each other and who are we to keep you guys from being together? I want you to be happy and I want her to be happy in this mess we call our lives so I'll tell her. She needs to know anyways. I'll find a way. I promise."

"What about Elena?"

"I'll deal with her. I agreed to do this her way but telling Jenna isn't exactly up to just her. I'll do it like I told Jeremy. I'll tell her and then I tell Elena I told her. Can't undo what's already been done."

"Are you sure? You don't have to do this if…"

"It's not safe for her to not know anymore. I need to tell her and…I need to tell Michael."

"Whoa…whoa. Michael? Why would you need to tell him? I mean telling Jenna is one thing but…" Alaric holds up his hands to her and she shrugs a shoulder.

"Michael means a lot to me and he's dating Jasmine. Jasmine's a witch, everything about her background involves witches and vampires and werewolves. Michael's big on trust and he'll only hold off on knowing nothing about her for so long…Not to mention there are other things Jasmine and I are dealing with that he should know about." She explains keeping her gaze averted from his.

"Yeah, you and Jasmine are hiding something. That much is obvious." Adele's eyes widen slightly as she looks at him, it causes him to laugh softly.

"Every time you two get together, there's a lot of whispering that goes on. I'm not the only one who's noticed. Damon noticed it first and pointed it out to me."

"Oh great. That's just great. Why hasn't he questioned me? I would think if he thought I was hiding something he would question me on it." Adele wonders aloud.

"He said something about not wanting you to pull away from him, I don't know. He didn't stay on the subject for more than a few seconds. I guess he's more worried about losing you then some secret between you and a friend." Alaric crosses his arms leaning back against one of the student desk as he watches her as her brows furrow and her eyes fall to the floor.

"He's not going to lose me."

"Your right, he can't lose what's not his." Her eyes snap back up to look at him, and there's a sort of puzzled expression on her face, like that thought, the thought that Damon can't lose her because she's not his never crossed her mind.

The shrill ringing of the bell breaks Adele out of her thoughts. She looks away from Alaric as the door to the class room opens and three students come rushing in. Adele jumps from the desk moving towards her desk in the back of the room. "Don't worry Ric." She calls has she reaches her desk. "I'll talk to her; I just need some time to figure out how."

~x~

"You want me to join your girl's night? Since when have I ever wanted to join in on a girl's night?" Adele asks into the phone, as she driving towards Michael's apartment. She had decided after talking to Michael in Calculus that she would go by and see Jasmine, mostly to tell her that she's decided to tell Michael everything but also because she just wants to see how she's doing.

"We want to have a normal night okay? Just to worry about guy problems and whatnot. I mean come on, you and Caroline have some serious guy problems." Elena defends her idea.

"I have guy problems?" Adele laughs. "Since when do I have guy problems?"

"I'm sorry to break it to you Adele but you have the most guy problems out of all of us. I mean Caroline has problems but there minor compared to yours." Elena points out and Adele sighs.

"I'm on my way to talk to Jasmine, I'll be there after."

"Bring her too. It'd be nice to finally get to know her, instead of knowing _of_ her."

"I might just do that." With that said she hangs up as she pulls into the parking lot of Michael's building.

~x~

"Wait…what?" Jasmine shirks and Adele flinches, her grip on the stirring wheel tightening. She had told Jasmine to get ready without so much as a hello when she had walked into the apartment. Jasmine put up somewhat of a fight but did as she said none the less. Now they are on their way to the house, Adele had just finished telling her that she's decided to tell Michael everything.

"Could you maybe not shirk so loud, this is a very enclosed space or at least give me a little heads up, I'll open the windows."

"You're going to tell Michael everything, everything about vampire's witches and werewolves? You're going to tell him about Caroline? About Tyler? About Bonnie? About me?"

"I'm not going to tell him about you. I'm going to tell him everything about vampires and werewolves and witches, I'm going to tell him about Caroline, Tyler and Bonnie, I'm going to tell him about the summer and I'm going to tell him about James. I'll leave you out and you can decide whether you want to tell him that you're a witch or not."

"Okay…thank you. Are you sure Adele? Are you sure telling him is such a good idea? Especially telling him about James?" There's a hint of worry in her tone.

"Yes, I'm sure. I just need to find the right way."

~x~

"Okay…if we're doing this, we need food." Adele calls from the living room. Caroline laughs, reaching over the counter to grab her IPad. "Chinese food or pizza?" She calls back as Adele enters the room.

The twins share a look as Elena is placing a bowl on the counter before laughing. "Do you even have to ask?" Elena teases causing Caroline to roll her eyes.

"I'll look it up." She turns the IPad on and is met with a picture of her and Matt from Founder's Day. When Caroline freezes staring at the picture, Bonnie reaches over taking it softly from her hands. "I'll do it."

"So Jasmine, where are you from?" Elena asks the raven haired girl who seemed to fit in with them quite well. "A small town in Utah, I left at a young age though, kind of traveled around before I made it to Florida."

"Do you believe that Jonas is being sincere?" Adele asks Bonnie who is in the middle of looking up a pizza place close enough to order delivery. She had explained to them that her and Stefan talked to Jonas and Luka earlier at The Grill and everything that he told them about Elijah's plan to kill Klaus, including the way to do it.

"I don't know what to believe. I think he's at a loss. He's not sure who to trust." She answers.

"Join the club." Elena mutters and Caroline decided it's time to change the subject. "Well, what are we going to do about this movie situation? What about 'The Notebook'?" Adele groans as Elena laughs.

"Caroline, how many times have you seen that movie?"

"That is so not the point." Caroline argues.

"Well, yeah, I mean…" Elena trails off as Jenna enters the kitchen. "Hey."

"What's going on?" Jenna questions looking around at all the girls standing around in her kitchen expect for Bonnie who is sitting.

"Girl's night." Adele answers with a smirk.

"Oh."

"How are you doing?" She asks as Jenna sets her stuff down.

"You heard about my fight with Ric?" Elena looks between her Aunt and Adele. She didn't hear about Alaric and Jenna's fight. She didn't know they had a fight. Why didn't she know and Adele did?

"He feels terrible." Adele sends Jenna a half smile. Alaric must've talked to her at school or something.

"Is this some kind of disguised attempt to cheer me up?"

"No. No, this is about us girls hanging out and you know, we'll be here if you happen to want to talk, or..." Elena starts and Caroline cuts her off.

"Because I'm a winner when it comes to successful relationships."

"You too?" Jenna asks as she moves to the fridge.

"You have no idea."

"Okay then. It's this whole Isobel thing; he's hiding something from me." Jenna sighs as she grabs something to drink and joins them at the Island.

"To play devil's advocate, maybe there is a great reason why he's not telling you. Maybe he is just trying to protect you." Caroline says in an attempt to speak on Alaric's behalf. Adele takes a seat on one of the stools across from them, running a hand over the back of her neck. Sure she could come right out and tell her what's going on right here and now but it just doesn't seem like the right time.

"Well, that's not his call to make. I mean, I deserve the truth. Everybody does." No it's not, which is why Adele has to tell her.

"Sometimes it's harder than that." And yet Caroline has a point. It is harder than everybody deserves the truth, much harder.

"Not if it's somebody you care about, it isn't." Adele slaps her hands on the counter, pushing herself back up as everyone looks at her. "You know what we need? Dancing. There's a band at The Grill."

Everyone quickly agrees.

~x~

Adele slips away from the group, pulling out her phone as she does. She dials his number quickly, pressing the phone to her ear as she slips into the hallway leading to the bathrooms. He answers on the second rings. "How's girls' night going?"

"Is it sad to say that normal has become pretty boring?" She jokes as she enters the girl's bathroom.

"Well I would say ditch em' and come spend time with me but I think what I'm doing is probably just as or more boring than whatever you are doing. Also I do not trust you and Katherine in the same house together, I fill like someone would lose a head and I feel confident it would Katherine but I'm not taking any chances."

She laughs. "Good call. What are you doing?"

"Reading through Jonathon Gilbert's journals, trying to find out where this old witch burial ground is."

"Did you find anything?" There's a few seconds of silence where she can hear him typing something out on his phone before he speaks. "Nope. Not at all." Her phone beeps and she frowns pulling it away from her ear to look down at it. Her frown deepens when she sees she's got a text from Damon. She opens it.

_I know exactly where it is. Can't say because Katherine is still here. Explain later._

She puts the phone back to her ear. "Well that sucks. I guess I should leave you to that."

"No, I'd rather you not. These phone calls have been the highlight of my day. You know I haven't left the house at all today?"

"Sounds like…torture." Adele shivers thinking about being stuck in a house all day with Katherine.

"It wouldn't be if I had the right company, like I don't know…someone blonde, blue eyes, 5'6, tan, an amazing pair of legs…"

"Amazing huh?" She smirks.

"Very."

"Well nothing in any of these." Adele hears in the background and Damon tells her to hold on. "Find anything?" It's Stefan, she realizes. He too must be reading through the Gilbert Journals. Gosh. How many are there?

"Nope." Adele can hear the ruffling of paper, she assumes it's Damon handing Stefan the journal with the answers to their questions to him, only telling him no because of Katherine.

"That's too bad."

"Yeah, bummer."

"Alright well I'm going to go back and read some more. Bye Adele." She laughs.

"Bye Stefan." She calls lightly, knowing he'll hear her.

"Anyways…what are you doing?" Damon asks after Stefan is gone.

"I'm at The Grill. There's a band playing tonight, and we decided it would be good for everyone to dance."

"So you're going to dance? Without me? I feel…" Damon cuts off suddenly and it sounds strangely like he's running before she hears groaning. "Katherine." She hears Damon mutter. "Damon!" She calls.

"Hold on, something's going on." He says and she hears the phone being shoved into his pocket, all sound now muffled. "Damon!" She calls again.

"Damn it!" She mutters. She plugs her other ear, listening closely.

"What happened?" She makes out, she can't hear what Katherine says in return but there isn't much time between then and when she hears the sound of what she assumes is the flamethrower Damon was using earlier.

"What are you doing?" She thinks that's Stefan.

"Some kind of crazy ass psychic witch attack! Get over there and do something about it!" Damon yells back. "Go!"

Adele's heart is racing, something is happening over there and she has no idea what it is. She's tempted to hang up the phone and rush over there but before she can do anything the sound dies down.

"You still there?"

"What the hell was that? Damon what the hell is going on?"

"I don't know. Something was trying to pull the dagger out of Elijah. One of those witches I think. Stefan's going over there to find out what happened." Adele jumps as the bathroom door swings open. Turning she sees it's Jasmine.

"You're totally missing it. Alaric showed up, Matt blew off Caroline and now she's up on stage about to start singing. What's wrong?" Jasmine asks seeing the look on her friends face.

"Go Kitten. Go have fun, it was probably nothing." Damon says having heard Jasmine.

"Okay. Be careful Damon." She hangs up before turning to Jasmine. "Nothing's wrong. Let's go see Caroline sing."

~x~

Adele sat at the bar screwing and unscrewing the top to the bottle of water she ordered. It had been a good 15 to 20 minutes since Caroline's song and Matt's spontaneous 'jump on stage and kiss Caroline' move and Adele couldn't be happier for her. It was about time something good happened to one of them.

"Are you sure nothing is wrong?" Adele pulls the hair tie holding back her hair out and shakes out the French braid before turning to Jasmine. "I'm just worried. Nothing is happening. When the hell does nothing happen?"

"Maybe we're lucky?"

"I don't think so. Something is going on." Adele mutters feeling a huge relief at finally being able to run her fingers through her hair. After her conversion with Damon, her stomach has been in knots and she can't help but look over her shoulder every few minutes.

"I need some air." She mutters pushing up from her stool and grabbing her water bottle. "I'll come with you." Jasmine says, spinning on her heel and chasing after her, weaving through people and muttering apologizes to those she runs into. She doesn't understand how people can weave through large crowds so easily. She's never been able to do it.

Jasmine follows behind her, out the doors of The Grill and they both quickly avoid the man rushing by. "Jeez." Adele mutters shaking her head but not looking back. "Adele! Slow down!" Jasmine calls as she rounds the corner into the ally beside the building.

Adele stops, taking a deep breath before turning around. "You know, I've been wondering something…Michael said something about you giving him some kind of herbal tea when he comes home from work. What kind herbal tea Jazzy?" Jasmine giggles, thinking Adele's quick change in subjects is quite funny and knowing she knows exactly what kind of herbal tea.

"You know that answer Adele."

"I figured. Just wanted to make sure, I'm glad you thought of it. With everything going on it didn't even cross my mind to start him on Vervain." Adele attempts and Jasmine shrugs but before she says anything Adele's eyes catch something from over Jasmine's shoulder and her brows furrow causing Jasmine to turn around. It was the man who almost ran into them both on his way into The Grill. He followed them.

Before Adele knows what's happening the man pushes his palm into Jasmine's forehead and Jasmine drops to the ground. "No! What are you doing?" Adele shirks, rushing forward and dropping down next to Jasmine. She rolls her over onto her back and pushes hair from her face. "Who are you?" Adele asks looking back up to the guy. He looks mad, real mad.

"Your boyfriend and his brother killed my son." Adele is confused as she shakes her head.

"I don't have a boyfriend!" She defends and jerks away as he reaches out for her. "No! Don't touch me!"

"Damon and Stefan Salvatore killed my son!" He roars and Adele's eyes widen. He reaches for her again and she doesn't have time to move away. He catches her arm pulling her up. "Now I have no one and their going to know what that feels like. I'm going to take what they care the most about away from them. You and Elena."

"No! No! I'm not dating him! Damon and I aren't together!" She pulls on her arm, dragging her feet as he pulls her deeper into the ally.

"But he loves you. Elijah made that very clear."

"Elijah liked me to! He had some sort of interest in me! He wanted Damon to protect me too." She tries a different approach; she knows she can't fight him back. He's much stronger then she is, she doesn't have her gun and he's a witch. There's many ways he could kill her if she tried.

Jonas steps waver slightly as he seems to think over her words. "Your right, he did express an interest in you but he's dead now. They killed him too."

"Please!" Adele yells and Jonas shoves her forward into the brick wall of The Grill.

"Since he did have an interest in you and I plan on getting him back, I'll give you a fighting chance." Adele doesn't understand what that means. Does he want her to fight him? He reaches out taking the water bottle that she's surprisingly was able to hold onto. He unscrews the top and pours the water in a line around her.

Her already pounding heart begins to beat faster and she presses her back against the wall as flames rise from the water on the ground. Jonas begins to walk away. "No! No please! Please don't do this!" He doesn't listen and she's left alone with only the flames around her.

She feels sick with the fear gripping hard at her gut. This is it. This is how she's going to die. It's fitting. She was supposed to die in that fire with Tony. Better late than never as they say.

~x~

Damon arrives at The Grill with Katherine, after Katherine came up with what had to be the best plan they had at this point to make sure Jonas didn't get Elena, he had no choice but to go with it. As there making their way to the entrance, Katherine stops.

"Do you smell that? Smells like smoke." Damon stops as well, taking a whiff of the air around them. Yeah, he smells it to. "You go in, I'm not really needed yet so I'll go check it out." She shrugs a shoulder with an eye roll and enters as Damon turns around.

He listens closely to his surroundings. People talking, people talking…harsh breathing, crying. Walking towards the noise, he comes to the ally. Looking into it, he sees the flames along with the body of a girl not too far from them. Rushing forward, he drops to a knee besides the body, shock washes over him in waves. "Jasmine?" He breaths out as his eyes lift immediately, where's Adele?

His eyes find the flames once more. There high and he can't see much past them, but he can just make out the figure of a body, sitting on the ground beyond them. "Kitten?" He calls hoping like hell he's wrong.

"Damon?" He hears her croak and he gets up fast, stumbling over there quickly almost losing his balance in the process.

"Adele! Oh god!" He yells, his hands coming up to grip at his hair. "How? What happened?"

"J-Jonas!" She cries out. "I can't breathe! Damon I can't breathe!"

~x~

She can't see anything beyond the flames, all she knows is he's standing on the other side and she can't breathe. Her chest feels tight, her stomach turning in the worst way and she just knows she's going to die.

She hugs her knees closer to her, rocking back and forth slightly. She doesn't know what to do, her mind is numb. Her whole body is numb. "It's okay Kitten! I'm going to get you out of there! Just hold on!" She wants to believe him, she really does.

"Do you have a jacket?" He calls after a minute and she nods before she realizes he probably can't see her. "I have a s-sweater."

"Good. Put it over your head."

"W-what?"

"Do it!" She does as he says, she does it slowly, with shaking hands but she gets the sweater unbuttoned and down her arms. She places it over her head and stands up slowly.

"O-okay."

"Now Kitten listen to me. I need you to jump through the fire." He says softly and she sucks in a breath backing up until her back is back against the wall.

"What? No! I can't!"

"Yes, yes you can! It's okay. I'm right here. I promise."

"I can't." She whimpers.

"Kitten listen to me, I need you to do this. I can't lose you like this. You need to do this for me. Please."

"Damon, I'm scared." She confesses in such a small and broken voice, he has to hold his breath in an attempt to stop tears from filling his eyes.

"I know, but trust me Adele; you're going to be okay. I would never let anything happen to you. You just have to run." She's silent, completely silent for a full minute.

"Okay." She finally whispers.

"Okay, Adele. On the count of three." She nods but once again she realizes he can't see her but she doesn't say anything.

"One…" She pulls the sweater tighter around her head.

"Two…" She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, picturing him. She pictures his eyes, his beautiful blue eyes.

"Three!" With everything she has, she runs forward and jumps. She can feel the heat for another second before it's gone. For a split second, she feels cold as she lets go of the sweater before the cold is replaced by warmth and not the kind of warmth from the fire but the kind she feels only when wrapped in his arms.

Slowly, the feeling in her body starts to return and she can feel his arms around her holding her close to him. It takes her a moment to realize her own arms around wrapped around his neck, and she tightens them pulling herself as close to him as possible as tears slip down her cheeks.

He pulls away slightly to look at her. "What happened?" He whispers and bright blue eyes shining with tears move to look over to Jasmine.

"I just needed some air…I j-just needed air…" She can't get much out besides that one line. Her whole form is shaking in his arms and he pulls her back to him. On many different occasions, he's seen the fear in her eyes when faced with fire, but she had never been trapped the way she just was. He can only imagine how terrified she was.

"You're okay. It's okay." He mutters into her hair, slowly the shaking stops and her breathing levels out, she doesn't leave his arms though. She feels safe there and she'd be damned if she ever let herself feel that terrified ever again.

"Damon?" Adele blinks, pulling back from Damon slightly to look over to the end of the ally. Elena is standing there, looking more confused than ever.

"We have to go. We have a plan to put in motion." He whispers and Adele unwraps herself slowly from his arms.

"Another plan…how fun." Her tone though low is none the less sarcastic and it causes Damon to crack a smile.

"Come on. We'll take Jasmine home as well."

~x~

"How did you convince her to do this?" Elena asks shoving a rough hand through her hair. It was bothering her that Katherine was in her house, let alone pulling off a plan to _help_ her.

"We didn't. It was actually her idea." Damon answers and Adele who is back to being who everyone knows her to be shakes her head. "That's not good." She mutters.

"No, no that's not good." Damon agrees watching her lean against the back of the couch. It was like nothing happened. How does she do that?

The three look up as Stefan and Katherine appear on the stairs, coming down casually. "Everything's taken care of." Stefan assures them as he hits the bottom, Katherine stops at the bottom as well pulling off Elena's necklace.

"I'm guessing you're going to want this back." She holds the necklace up. "But your pretty little outfit is going to need a good dry clean." With a scowl Elena moves forward, snatching the necklace from her hand.

"You need to get her out of here." Adele speaks up from her spot leaning against the couch. Katherine glares over to her before Elena speaks up as well. "Before Jenna gets home."

"Is that all you have to say to me?" Katherine asks, in somewhat disbelief looking between the two twins.

"This doesn't change the way we feel about you." Elena informs her surprised she would even think this one good deed makes everything okay. It can't, not after everything she put them through.

"I don't much like you two either, if we're going to be open and frankly, I'd be happy to see you dead and as for Blondie over there, I'd be happy to kill you myself…" Adele sends her a smirk, the little jab not at all insulting though Damon tenses. Adele pushes herself from the couch making her way over to stand next to Elena.

"Ditto, Sweetheart." Adele whispers to her and Katherine clenches her teeth before continuing.

"But if we're going to try to take on Klaus, we kind of need you to be alive. So I'm not a threat to you, _Elena._" She makes a point to look at Adele who only smirks at her. "If any of you are going to believe anything, believe that."

Adele snorts before turning to Stefan. "Get her out of here." She then turns ready to walk away but Katherine reaches out. Damon see's this coming and steps forward having seen the glint of her gun in the waist band of her leggings, she must of grabbed it when she got home. "I wouldn't do that…" But it's too late, Katherine grabs her arm and faster than she's ever seen a human move, Adele breaks away, reaches behind her and pulls the gun.

Katherine out of completely reflex takes a step back as does Elena and Stefan. Damon takes a step forward. "Adele…" They ignore him.

"You wouldn't." Katherine laughs. "Humans have this thing called remorse."

"Remorse…" Adele says slowly as if tasting the word. "Really? That's weird, cause I sure as hell have never heard of it."

"Okay…that's enough." Damon speaks up once more, wedging himself in between Katherine, Adele and her gun. When Adele doesn't lower the gun, Damon eyes it reaching up and taking it from her slowly.

"You both need to calm down. Adele, Katherine is right. At the moment, she's not a threat and Katherine; you are not allowed to touch her. Ever." Damon wonders briefly why he's the one playing peace maker. This is Stefan's job.

He sends his brother a glance, to find he's not paying attention. His attention is focused completely on Adele, on her chest to be more pacific. Damon frowns following his gaze to find he's staring at the locket, the locket he gave her, the locket that once belonged to their mother. Stefan to has a picture of their mother and in that picture she's wearing the locket. Damon wonders if he recognizes it, by the expression on his face, he does, he just doesn't know why.

Damon moves, wrapping a hand around Adele's waist and pulling her away from Katherine, half to get her away from Katherine and half to get Stefan's attention off the locket. He's not sure he wants him to realize what it is.

~x~

Elena takes a seat next to her sister on the couch. Adele had just put in a movie, what movie? Elena isn't sure. "What are we watching?" She asks softly.

"The Notebook." Adele mutters and Elena can't help but smile.

"The Notebook? Really?" Adele turns her head to look at her, ready to defend her choice in movie but laughs instead. "What can I say? A girl's night isn't really a girl's night until you've watched The Notebook at least once."

"Tonight didn't go as planned at all." Elena sighs and Adele nods. "What happened to you anyways?"

"It's a long and boring story." In other words, she doesn't want to talk about it and Elena nods, deciding not to push her on it, she knows something happened, she's just not sure what. Damon wouldn't tell her either when she questioned him on it while they dropped Jasmine off at Michael's apartment. Adele had gotten her to wake up halfway there.

Around the time Noah is hanging from the top of the Ferris wheel the front door opens and Jenna walks in with a not so happy expression. "Hey." Elena calls. "You made it home."

"Tonight was very weird." Is all she gives them as she passes by to enter the kitchen. Elena turns to Adele but all she does is shrug looking back to the TV screen. Adele's had enough drama for the night, she didn't feel up to chasing her Aunt into the kitchen to find out what happened but Elena does as she leaves her side to follow Jenna and as she does Adele's phone dings from beside her. She picks it up, seeing it's a text from Damon.

_Are you going to be okay? ~Damon _

_Yeah, I might have a nightmare or two but I'll be okay. ~Adele _

_Well you could always come stay with me, the only monster you'd be seeing well be sleeping next to you. ~Damon_

_And what a sexy monster he is. (; ~Adele _

_And you better not forget it. ;) ~Damon _

_Goodnight, Damon. ~Adele _

_Night, Kitten. ~Damon. _

The doorbell rings and Adele looks over to the front door, debating whether to get up and answer it. Seeing Jenna out of the corner of her eye she smirks. "Oh good, you got it."

"Yeah because it would be such a…" Jenna trails off as she opens the door to find a woman standing there, a beautiful woman at that. Adele notes how quickly the small smile falls from Jenna's face.

"Hi." Adele is on her feet and running over to the door the second she hears the voice of whoever is at the door. "You must be Jenna." Adele rips the door from Jenna's hand, pulling it open further to reveal the woman to her. Elena walks into the room as well, stopping just outside of the kitchen when she sees her.

"I'm Adele and Elena's mother." Jenna turns to look at Adele, who is staring at the woman with such a look of hatred that Jenna almost takes a step back.

"Isobel." She hisses through clenched teeth and Jenna's curious expression turns to one of confusion before turning to realization as her eyes return to the woman on her doorstep. This is Isobel. Alaric's Isobel.


	32. Chapter 32

**This took longer than I expected, I am sorry about that. I was writing it and then rereading it and it just wasn't right, so I had to go and redo it. 5 more chapters till the end everyone. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 32: Know thy Enemy<strong>

Adele is holding her breath, the whole house is deadly silent as Jenna gazes back at Elena who tries to find something to say, anything that well make this situation at least slightly better then it's shaping up to be.

Adele hasn't taken her blue eyes from her _mother_, who stares back at her, her eyes shining like she enjoys the chaos she knows she's creating and Adele's hand is itching to release a couple bullets from her gun into this woman's skull.

"It's nice to see you again Adele, Elena." She regards the both of them, breaking the silence but thickening the tension.

"Again?" Her aunt whispers but she refuses to look at her, keeping her eyes locked on Isobel who hasn't looked away from her either.

"So you're the woman who's dating my husband." If Jenna had any doubts at all that this Isobel was Alaric's wife, they we're gone and the idea to shoot her is becoming more and more appealing. "I need to speak with Adele and Elena, may I come in?" She continues to regard Jenna but it isn't Jenna who answers, it's Elena who has rushed forward from the spot she had stood frozen.

"N-n-no! Don't invite her in!"

"I need to talk to you. Both of you." Isobel tries to reason, looking from Adele to Elena then back to Adele who shakes her head. "No." And with a firm grip on the door, Adele swings it hard and it slams shut with a loud bang that makes Jenna jump.

Jenna is staring at her but Adele refuses to look back, refuses to face the tears welling up in her aunt's eyes. "You knew…" Jenna whispers to her, the feeling of betrayal consuming her as she tries hard to keep her composer. "You both knew she was still alive." It wasn't a question this time. "Ric? John? Did they know?"

"We can explain everything, Jenna." Elena's voice cracks with emotion, tears filling her own eyes as Jenna stares at her before shaking her head. "No." She chokes out, turning quickly and fleeing up the stairs. Adele stays perfectly still as she listens to the sound of Elena rushing after her and the slam of her bedroom door followed by Elena's fist beating rapidly against the wood.

"No! Jenna, please! Jenna, please! Wait! Jenna, please wait!" Adele flinches at the high pitched tone of her sister's voice. "Jenna, you have to talk to me. I...I need to explain what's going on. Jenna, please." Her hand rips violently through her knotted hair. God, Jenna is never going to forgive them.

~x~

Elena lifts her face from her hands as Stefan finishes telling her how Caroline had to save Matt last night by giving him her blood only for him to freak out on her and run out, now Caroline had no idea where he was and he won't answer his phone. "Oh, this is bad. Between Isobel and Jenna and now Matt, this is a disaster."

"What's new? Everything about our lives is a disaster Elena." Adele comments, appearing in the doorway has if out of nowhere, and for a second Stefan wonders if maybe she had come out of thin air because when he first got there, she was sleeping and he hadn't been there for more than 15 minutes.

Stefan runs a hand over Elena's back for comfort as she looks up at her sister, she has nothing to give has a rebuttal to her statement. Stefan hears something that they seem to miss and his eyes move over Adele's shoulder. Adele notices his attention shift and turns around, holding back a loud groan as she sees it's John. She had been hoping he'd leave by now.

"Can you come down stairs, please? I need to talk to you. Both of you." He glances between his daughters.

"I have nothing to say to you." Adele mutters crossing her arms over her chest drawing Stefan's eyes to the locket around her neck.

"Please. It's important, you too Stefan." He doesn't wait around for Adele or Elena to refuse, he walks away and Adele looks to Elena who only gives her a small shrug before pushing herself up.

~x~

Adele is behind Elena as there rounding the corner, making their way to the kitchen as John waits for them and Adele is a stunned for a moment as she finds herself running into her sister who has stopped short. Looking up, Adele see's what it is that has made Elena stop, Isobel. "I asked John for a do over."

Without so much as a word, Adele turns around quickly, ready to make her retreat quick but Stefan reaches out just as quickly and grabs her arm, preventing her from moving forward.

"You invited her in?" She hears Elena hiss in John's direction.

"She has information about Klaus. Please, just listen to her, ok?" John practically pleads with them and Adele tries but fails to jerk her arm away from Stefan.

There's a few seconds of silence that's only filled with the sound of a small struggle from Adele and Stefan too which Stefan wins, spinning her back around to face John and Isobel. If he was going to have to listen to this, so was she. "Alright, what do you know?"

John tells them they should move to the kitchen to talk and Elena glances back at Stefan and Adele before following behind him and Isobel. "Don't pout. You need to hear this just as much as we do." Stefan whispers to Adele as he moves them forward.

"I'm not pouting, I'm brooding. Something you have a lot of practice in." He nods; a hint of a smile showing.

"You don't get what you want so now you're going to be mean? How mature of you." He jokes.

"You would know Grandpa."

~x~

"Since I was last here, I've been doing everything possible to find Klaus. We knew our best chance was to find him before he could find you." Isobel explains to them as Stefan and Elena pace the kitchen and Adele sits cross legged on top of the island.

"Best chance at what?" Though they we're all thinking it, it was Stefan who asked first.

"Best chance at keeping Elena alive." John answers and Adele's eyes snap up from her phone to glare at him. "You don't get to talk okay? Not after everything you've done." She snaps at him and Elena nods in agreement, she had been thinking the same thing.

"We're you able to find Klaus?" Stefan asks trying to keep them all on track.

"No. Nobody knows where he is but there are these rumors that are flying around, that a doppelgänger exists." While Isobel informs them of this, Elena's eyes go to her sister while Adele's eyes look to Stefan who looks back at her. That obviously can't be good.

"Which means any vampire that wants to get in favor with Klaus will be lining up to capture you." Adele sends another glare to John.

"Thank you John for pointing that out to us, because we're obviously to slow to figure it out ourselves." She snaps causing Stefan to frown at her, and she just sends him a look that says 'What? It's true.'

"I'm not buying any of this." Elena speaks up causing everyone to look at her. She had been so silent that they almost forgot she was there, though the whole point of this conversion revolved around her. "The last time that you were here, you made it clear that you didn't give a damn about us. Now all of a sudden I'm supposed to believe that you want to help?"

"Isobel's been helping all along. Klaus has been obsessed with finding Katherine for centuries. All it would take was any one of those 1864 tomb vampires to spread the word around that Katherine was still alive and it would bring him straight here to Mystic Falls, where you were bound to be discovered, so we killed them." John defends but it causes uproar in Adele's anger as she jumps from the counter.

"And almost killed Damon and Stefan in the process." She's not even going to mention John not informing Damon that if he used the dagger on Elijah that it would kill him too, because that's two times John's tried to kill Damon and that's a perfect reason not to trust either of them. John nods at her, she was never going to let him live that down.

"I have a safe house that I can take you to. The deed is in both of your names. No vampires can get in without either of your permission, not even me." Isobel explains to them and Adele begins to shake her head. "Let me help you." Isobel pleads.

Elena steps forward, to stand in front of Isobel. "You want to help? Get the hell out of my house."

Isobel turns to look at Adele but all she does is shrug. "Couldn't have said it better myself."

~x~

She drifted in and out of sleep, the only reason that she wasn't fully knocked out at this point was Damon whispering in her ear to stay awake but seriously, running on 30 minutes of sleep and laying curled in his lap with him rubbing small circles on her lower back, how did he not expect her to fall asleep and he should let her, at this that is what she thinks.

After Isobel and John had both left, Stefan mentioned that they should go to the boarding house to talk to Damon, with little fight from Adele and none from Elena, they headed off and when they got there, Damon was sitting in the den, as if he knew they we're coming. Adele had decided that Elena and Stefan could take care of the explaining because Damon's lap looked very welcoming.

"Do you really think that Isobel's telling the truth? That word's gotten out about the doppelganger?" Elena asks the brothers once they finished telling Damon everything Isobel and John said.

"I don't trust a word they say." Adele speaks up for the first time, her voice tired. Stefan nods in agreement with her.

"But I think we'd be stupid to ignore the warning." He adds and Adele rolls her eyes but knows that he's right and closes them again.

"You know, you should just stay here. It's better for us to keep an eye on you." Adele can feel the vibrations through his chest as Damon talks.

"What, in the house that any vampire can enter? No. Her house is safer." Stefan argues and yes, Damon has to agree that was a pretty stupid suggestion.

"Well, then we'll stay there." He wouldn't mind that, he'd just stay with Adele. The thought makes him smirk.

"So is that the plan? Neither of you will let me out of your sight again?" Elena doesn't find the idea very appealing but she knows if she fights, she'll lose.

"Let me know when you come up with a better one." Damon remarks earning a small smack to the chest from Adele.

"Fine. Then one of you 2 bodyguards is going to have to come with me to the Lockwood luncheon."

"That would be me." Says Stefan. Adele forgot about that, and now that she does remember, she's not going. She's way too tired for that and plus, she made an appearance at the High Tea.

"Not me. I have witch stuff to attend to with Bonnie." Damon remarks with a roll of his eyes as Adele picks up her head from his shoulder to look at him just as Elena starts to asks, "Does that mean you're taking her to the…" but Damon places a finger to his lips that has Elena trailing off.

"Don't get quiet on my account." Adele resists the urge to groan as she bares her face in Damon's neck breathing in his scent. Maybe if she pretends Katherine's not there, she'll go away. "If you have a plan to combat the impending vampire doom, please do tell." No one says anything; Stefan and Elena look between each other, while Damon goes back to whispering in Adele's ear. Katherine's eyes land on the two and she wants to gag. The sight was so sickeningly sweet and to think he wouldn't even think about sleeping with her last night.

"Seriously, what is the plan to get us out of this mess, hmm? I delivered you a moonstone, a werewolf, and the dagger to lure and kill Klaus, and right now all you have is a moonstone. Or so you tell me."

"No, we have it." Damon assures her.

"Where is it?"

"It's in a very safe place."

"I've been honest with you, time to return the favor."

"Let me be honest with you. Don't mistake the fact that we haven't set you on fire in your sleep for trust." Damon smirks feeling Adele's smirk against his neck.

"Fine, be that way." She leaves, leaving them all in silence. There not even going to try picking up the conversion where they left it, considering Katherine might be listening in. So instead, Damon looks down at Adele as best as possible.

"What are you doing today?"

"As far as I know nothing."

"Well that's boring. Oh, I know. Come with me."

"On one condition." Adele picks up her head, smirking down at him.

"Oh god, what?"

"We take a night and watch Gone with the Wind. Both parts." With a sigh, he lets his head fall back.

"Fine. You're making dinner though, unless you don't know how to cook?" It's a challenge, she can tell and if she chose to expect, it's sad to say she would lose.

"No, I suck at cooking. I can take apart and resemble a car engine but I cannot cook." She shakes her head.

"Well we'll have to change that." He pushes her up to her feet before standing up, ready for them to leave but Stefan stops them asking if he can talk to Adele alone for a minute and she agrees. Both Damon and Elena leave, Elena going up to wait in Stefan's room and Damon going outside to wait for Adele.

"What's up?" She asks after their gone, her hands going into the back pockets of her shorts. Instead of answering, he hands her something and she pulls a hand out to take it slowly as she eyes him. Looking down, she sees it's a picture, an old, black and white photo of a beautiful dark haired woman but Adele's not paying any attention to her features. Her eyes are drawn directly to the woman's neck and the locket that resides there. It's the locket around her neck at this very moment.

Her eyes snap back up. "Who is this?"

"Look closely." Stefan mutters, wondering if she'll catch it by herself. She looks back down to the photo and studies it closely, the woman's dark hair, her defined cheek bones, the curve of her jaw, it all reminds her of…Adele sucks in a breath, her wide eyes flying back up to Stefan. "This is your mother."

~x~

Adele trails slightly behind Damon, glad she decided against wearing heels as they push their way through the woods. Sometimes Adele wonders why anyone would want to build a town surrounded by nothing but trees.

Adele breathes a sigh of relief as they finally emerge from the line of trees and into a clearing of grass, dead leafs and a couple more trees here and there.

"Is this the spot Emily Bennett was killed too?" Jeremy asks out of curiosity, shrugging the strap of the backpack he's carrying back onto his shoulder. He figures it is, but he just wants to make sure.

"Founders thought it was poetic burning her where the other witches burned." Damon answers him as casually as if they we're talking about the weather.

"How do you know where the witches were burned?" It's Bonnie who questions him this time.

"'Cause I tried to save her. Emily was just my key to getting Katherine back before I knew what a nasty little bitch Katherine was." Jeremy chuckles while Bonnie and Adele roll their eyes at the answer.

Damon slows to a stop making the rest of them stop as well and Adele looks up from her feet, her eyes widening as she takes in the house ahead. It was huge, possibly bigger than the Lockwood manor and all white as well but years of being abandon have left it looking slightly morbid, not to mention the signs that there had possibly been a fire there before or two in this case. They haven't even gotten near it and Adele already had chills.

"You sure this is the right place?" Jeremy asks glancing at him. It just seemed a little weird to him to burn witches inside a house.

Damon nods before walking forward and Adele shrugs at her brother as he turns to look at her before jogging to keep up with him, slipping her hand into his to ward off the chills.

~x~

He leans back against the bed of his truck taking a long and stretched out drag from the cigarette in his hand. Blowing the smoke back out, he for the first time in a good couple of days, feels relaxed even if he is standing on the side of the road.

At last minute when one of the other recruits had failed to show up, James called him in to another case. James wanted all of Justin's attention on watching Adele Gilbert, but seeing as he wasn't actually watching her, he assured James that he could take on this case and still do his part in the Adele situation. He was very good at multi-tasking.

He wasn't actually seeing Adele that much anyways. He had her texting him what she's up to a few times a day and if it wasn't for the sole purpose that he had to have something to tell James when he called, then he would just leave her alone altogether.

And as if James could sense that he's being thought of, Justin's cell phone buzzes loudly in his pocket and he places his half burned out cancer stick in-between his lips so he can retrieve the phone.

"Hello?" He mutters past the cigarette, shoving the few dollar bills and a receipt that had fallen out of his pocket when he pulled out the phone back in.

"Are you smoking again Mr. Taylor?"

"Absolutely not." Justin answers with just enough seriousness behind the answer for James to believe it. Lying about something to James had always been easy for Justin, the guy trusted him enough to think he would never lie.

"Good, that shit well kill you." Oh Justin's not so sure that's what's gonna end up killing him in the end, but he doesn't say as much. "Are you back in Mystic Falls?"

Justin takes a moment to stomp out the cigarette and look to his right, to the sign that says Welcome to Mystic Falls, Virginia. "Yeah, just got in today."

"Have you located Miss. Gilbert?"

Justin checks his watch. "She's having lunch with her sister and a friend." He answers, when he doesn't hear from Adele right away on what she's doing, he makes something up. It's not like James is there to call him bluff.

"Which friend?"

"I don't know, some blonde girl. She's not doing much of anything sir."

"Well what about Reed? Is she there?"

"She's here. She's living with Adele's ex. Michael Landon, 18 years old from Lake Oswego, Oregon, moved to Mystic falls with his father and his sister, neither of them are in the picture at the moment, I'm not sure what happened to them." Justin explains as briefly as he can.

"That has no significant use to me Taylor. I need something I can work with." James finally snaps, fed up with the lack of information one of his best men can't seem to get ahold of.

"If I knew exactly what it is you're planning, I could get you what you want."

"Your too close to this, I can't have her finding out about you and you knowing too much."

~x~

They enter the house, the door creaking loudly as they do and Adele follows behind Damon as he walks forward, past the stairs and towards what has to be the living room. Adele glances around them, scrunching her nose at the smell of damp mold.

Jeremy steps on a creaky floor bored that makes him jump and give off a small surprised gasps that has everyone turning to him and smirking. "Come on." He mutters as he throws up a hand. It's a creepy old house, what did they expect?

Damon lets go of Adele's hand to go look out one of the slightly bored up windows. Turning back around, he takes a step forward and jerks to a stop directly under a ray of sunlight, that's peeking through some other window. Everyone looks over to him as he tries to move, but can't.

"Whatever witchy prank you're playing, don't. It's not funny." He directs at Bonnie who shakes her head at him. "I'm not doing anything."

"I can't move." He points out and Adele crosses her arms. "It would seem so." She mutters moving to circle around him. He glares at her as she studies him.

Her eyes widen and she takes a step back as his skin starts to turn a shade of red and small bubbles start to form on his face and hands. "Oh. My rings not working." He says looking towards his hand and the ring on his finger.

"Do something." Adele demands towards Bonnie, who closes her eyes immediately, tilting her head towards the ground. There's a few seconds of nothing but the sound of Damon's groaning before he jerks forward into the shadows.

"I don't think the witches like you being here." Bonnie points out.

"I guess this is the right place." Damon nods at Jeremy before pointing towards the door.

"I'm going to go…wait outside." He pushes past the two, leaving quickly. He does not want to risk getting stuck like that again.

"I'm going to go with him, I can handle vampires, werewolves and witches, but they have to have a heartbeat. I draw the line at ghost…and Zombies. I don't do Zombies." Adele points out pushing past them as well. Jeremy smirks, shaking his head as he watches her leave the house.

"Zombies?" Damon asks as she steps out of the house and she turns to him.

"Zombies." She nods. "I want nothing to do with them. There creepy with their groaning and grunting and what not." Adele shivers causing Damon to laugh.

"So I can add Zombies to the list of fears you have."

"List? I have a list?"

"Oh yeah, fire, zombies, feelings…" He turns away from her, walking out into the yard of the house and she follows closely after him. "Feelings? You think I have a fear of feelings?"

"Well not feelings in general, you fear love specifically." Her eyes widen as she continues to follow after him. Seeing he has no plans to turn back around, she reaches out grabbing his arm and spinning him around to face her.

"What makes you think I fear love?"

"Are you really asking me that?"

"Yes! I want to know, because I have no idea what gave you that impression." He raises an eyebrow at her but doesn't answer and she crosses her arms. "Damon…I'm serious…I want to know."

"At first I thought you we're holding yourself back because you're still in love with your fiancé but I realized that no, that's not it. I know when you're afraid. Some part of you gets afraid when you get too close to me, you _hold back_. Adele, When it comes to you…I notice everything."

Adele is speechless. What was she supposed to say to that? How was she supposed to response to him? _Deny! Deny! Deny!_ Her mind is screaming at her and she swallows. "I'm not afraid Damon. Nothing about you scares me. You know what I want to know? Why did you give me your mother's locket?"

Stunned Damon takes a step back from her, his eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. "Wha…how…Stefan." He growls out after a moment and Adele nods. He places his hands on his hips, causing the sides of his jacket to push out. "Is that what he wanted to talk to you about? He wanted to rat me out?"

"Yeah actually and I'm glad he did. Why in the world would you give something like this and then make me forget? I can't take it off; I tried on the way here. Why is that Damon?"

"Because I compelled you not to, I filled it with vervain and gave it to you."

"I got that, but what else? There has to be more Damon because you left me alone in my room crying that night. I don't let myself cry for just any reason. That night haunts me Damon. What else did you make me forget?" She asks and watches as he shakes his head before going to turn away and she jumps out, grabbing his arm. "Don't walk away from me. What was it Damon?"

He stares at her, not saying anything and she finally snaps pushing him away. "What was it?" She yells at him. "I can't tell you!" He yells back before taking a deep breath to try and clam himself down.

"And why not?"

"Because that night haunts me to Adele but for much different reasons and while I would love to tell you what I made you forget, I can't. I made you forget for a reason. You weren't ready for what happened that night then and you're not ready now."

Looking back towards the house, where Jeremy and Bonnie are still inside she nods. "Fine. I'm leaving. You don't need me here and I should've gone with Elena, that's where I was supposed to be today, accepting a check on my mother's behalf, not here chasing down some way to save my sisters life from some evil vampire."

~x~

Adele slips up next to Stefan just in time for Carol to call out Elena's name. Everyone in the room claps as she starts up to the front of the room, Carol is waiting for her with a closed enveloped holding the cheek going to their mother's foundation. Looks like she showed up just in time.

"Was it the right place?" She hears from beside her and she crosses her arms, nodding. "Yeah. It was…creepy." She whispers back to him causing him to chuckle lightly. "Damon sure wasn't welcomed…" Adele jumps with the sudden noise from behind her and Stefan. They spin around in time to see John falling down the stairs. "John!" She exclaims rushing over to him with Stefan right behind her.

They bend down to John to see he's unconscious, Stefan turns his head revealing to them a bite mark and Stefan turns to Adele. It's clear what he wants her to do and she nods pushing herself up and escaping the house completely unnoticed as people start to gather.

She dials his number and pushes talk as she's making a break for her mustang but is cut off as a black SUV pulls in front of her; she drops the phone to her side as the window rolls down revealing Isobel to her.

~x~

Damon was halfway to his car when his phone rang, stopping to dig it out of his pocket he sees it Adele and raises an eyebrow. Did she just leave him? Why would she be calling?

"Hello?" He answers and at first he hears nothing but after a few seconds he realizes that there is a sound, it's a car running and a window being rolled down.

"Hello Adele." Damon's blood runs cold. That –he is 110 percent sure– is Isobel. "Get in." _No! Don't get in!_ Damon is screaming in his head, knowing if he was to say it out loud, Isobel would hear him. He starts for his car again.

"What in your small delusional mind gives you the idea that I would do that?" Is Adele's response with all her famous Adele Gilbert attitude. _That's my girl._ Damon smirks.

"Because I have your sister." His smirk falls. How in the world was he not expecting that?

"What?" Adele breathes and he curses once more picking up his pace as his car is coming into sight. Now he knows there's no stopping Adele from getting in that car.

"I have your sister, she's in the back sleeping peacefully and if you know what's good for the both of you you'll get in."

"Oh I get it. Biting John was a distraction, to get to Elena. Stefan is going to notice her missing, he'll come find her." She's fishing, fishing for information on his behalf.

"Katherine has that covered. Now get in." There are a few moments of silence and he's begging her not to get in the car as he finally reaches his own.

"Fine." And with that she hangs up the phone and he curses slipping into the driver seat and pulling up a text message window.

~x~

Stefan's phone vibrates in his pocket and he takes it out. Seeing that it's a text from Damon hopefully saying he's on his way he opens it.

_Isobel has Elena and Adele, if you see Elena, it's not her. Don't ask how I know, I'm on my way. ~Damon_

Stefan looks up right away. "He's bleeding will he be alright?" He asks the sheriff playing the innocent bystander he's pretending to be and she nods. He looks behind him to try and spot Elena but can't. He should've gone straight to her when John got pushed, he should've realized something was up. He stands pushing through the crowd to get back into the other room, where once again he doesn't see her.

"Elena?" He calls and turns around, ready to leave the house and tear the town apart but he sees her standing there with her cellphone pressed against her ear. She glances back at him. She's getting way to good at this. Stefan thinks to himself as she comes towards him. "You okay?" She nods.

"I'm calling Damon." He nods as well placing a hand on her back and pushing her forward.

"Let's get out of here. Come on." He's going to play along and Damon needs to as well if they have any chance of getting them back.

_We're going to play along. Take care of the John situation, I'll try to get something out of her and I'll call you. Wait for me to call! ~Stefan_

~x~

Isobel's phone rings as there driving, she answers it after looking to see who it is but Adele doesn't look away from staring out the window and running her fingers through Elena's hair. They have been driving for a good while, Adele's not sure just how long but it felt like forever. Where the hell was she taking them and why?

"Are we good to go?...We'll be long gone by then…I'm sorry, Katherine." Elena begins to stir then, picking up her head out of reflex, realizing that she didn't recognize her surroundings. The only thing she did recognize was her sister. The scent of vanilla was a dead giveaway but it was always the way she was running her fingers through her hair. Though she hasn't done it in such a long time, it was something she used to do in stressful situations when they we're younger, like when their parents used to fight.

"I had to do what I was told. He wanted the moonstone and he wanted you." Isobel hangs up the phone and the strange ending to that conversion had Adele and Elena glancing between each other.

"What's going on?" Elena croaks out. "Where are you taking us?"

"You'll see." Isobel answers and Adele snorts.

"He who? Are you selling out your little partner in crime to Klaus? Are you selling Elena out to Klaus? Is that what this is about?" When Isobel doesn't say anything Adele nods. "That's it. It has to be. Why me? What would Klaus want with me?" Once again no answer and Adele rolls her eyes looking at her sister with crossed arms. "Well this is just great."

~x~

The car stops and Isobel leaves and Adele's about to open her mouth but doesn't has the door beside Elena opens, Isobel showing back up in there line of vision. "Come on." She mentions for them to get out, but neither of them makes a move as they stare at her.

"Just because you can't be compel doesn't mean I can't force you to come with me." She calls to them as she starts to walk away, knowing that they will follow and they do as Elena slips from the car with Adele close behind her.

"And just because your my biological mother doesn't mean I can't hate you with everything that makes me, me." Adele mutters.

"You know Adele; you really shouldn't say such things. You might regret them later on." Isobel seems completely serious.

"You would think that, but I've been known to be a very cold person, I surprise even myself sometimes." Elena has to agree with that, though she doesn't say anything. "So is that what happened? You we're compelled to betray Katherine?" She asks instead, trying to keep them on track.

"If I was, I couldn't tell you." Isobel answers.

"So you lied. You did find Klaus. He knows where I am now. Are you taking me to him?"

Isobel stops them in front of a headstone causing Adele to frown. Is this some kind of joke? "What is this?" She asks reaching up to play with the locket around her neck, giving her hands something to do. Isobel bends down brushing leaves from the bottom and revealing the person the tombstone belongs to. Isobel Flemming.

"My parents, your grandparents, they put it here when it became clear that the police weren't going to find my body. They visit every week, and they bring flowers, even though there's no one buried here. The Isobel they knew is dead. So maybe there's a part of me that's buried here, the-the human part, the part that I abandoned when I…when I choose to become a vampire, the part that used to dream about the day that she'd know her daughters."

"What?" Elena breaths out turning to gap at Isobel as Adele can only stares at the tomb stone in front of her. She doesn't understand something just won't let her understand. There's a part of her that is screaming that Isobel is lying.

"And instead you got to meet the other part...The part that would betray her own flesh and blood." Isobel's phone rings once again, causing Adele to jump slightly. She had been so lost in her own head, that she had lost track of everything around her.

"Yes." Adele finally looks up, as Isobel speaks to whoever it was on the phone. "Let them go?" Elena glances at Adele, who is standing perfectly still as she watches Isobel. Isobel's tone along with her expression show that she's confused by whatever the person is telling her to do, which apparently is to let them go.

"I'm done?" Everything about Isobel changes in that very moment. With something now lifted off her shoulders, she looks younger, happier. After another moment, she hangs up the phone and regards the both of them intensely as if she's trying to imprint what they look like into her mind. "Who was that?" Adele finally asks something didn't seem right here.

"I'm so sorry, to the both of you that I was such a disappointment." Adele frowns, there is no witty but rude comment to be made, no because in a second, her instincts kick in, and she jerking forward. "Isobel no!" But it's too late; Isobel had already reached up and ripped the charmed necklace from her neck. With a shirk of pain and a gasps on the part of Elena, Isobel quickly goes up in flames, falling to her knees before falling over completely.

Adele is frozen in her spot, staring at her still burning mother her numb mind not being able to comprehend what she had just witnessed and she shouldn't have to. There was no reason she had to witness something like that.

Elena takes the situation into her own hands and calls Stefan right away, all the while watching her sister. "You need to hurry." She tells him once explaining that they we're fine and where they were.

Out of the corner of her eye, she can see something shining in the grass and slowly she turns, to see exactly what it is. It's Isobel's necklace.

She picks it up, turning the stone in her hand. "What is that?" Elena asks softly coming up behind her. Adele quickly shoves it into her pocket. "Nothing." She mutters quickly and Elena nods, though she knows it wasn't nothing.

~x~

She sits on the edge of his bed, her hands resting on her bend knees as she turns the stone over in her hands. It's unaware to her that Damon is leaning against the bathroom door way, watching her. He can't exactly make out what it is, she has in her hands, but she's been staring at it since she sat down.

Finally he walks forward. "What do you got there Kitten?" His voice is soothing to her as he sits down next to her and instead of shoving the thing into her pocket like he expected her to do; she lets out a sigh and hands it over to him to look at. To his surprise it's Isobel's necklace. "I found it." She mutters as he looks it over.

"She's dead." Adele whispers pushing hair from her face. "It shouldn't bother me this much." She shakes her head and takes the necklace back as Damon hands it to her. "She was your mother, weather she raised you or not."

"But I hated her, I hated her so much."

"I know." He mutters and she lays her head against his shoulder as his hand slips into hers, intertwining their fingers together.

"I don't know what I'd do without you." He hears her whisper after sitting in silence for a minute.

"You'd be able to manage." She giggles softly because honestly, he has no idea what he's talking about. She's convinced that without him, she'd fall apart but she wasn't about to say anything she was just going to enjoy him being here.

"Are you going to keep it? The necklace?"

"I'm going to give it to Elena; she can do with it what she wants. Speaking of necklaces…I can't take this one off." Though she can't see his face, she knows he's smirking. "Yes, I know."

"I want to be able to take it off Damon."

"You don't like it?"

"I love it, but…it was your mothers…you should've kept it." She picks her head up to look at him.

"I want you to have it, it'll protect you." He explains softly reaching up to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Because you filled it with vervain."

"Exactly."

"I still want to be able to take it off. I don't like the idea of having to wear something against my will. I promise not to take it off unless I have to but I would really like the option." Though he doesn't want to, he agrees to give her that option and he reached up, unhooking the locket and taking it off, making sure to stay clear of the heart.

With the necklace off, she feels like a part of her as been removed. She had been wearing the necklace non-stop for so long, she had come to barely notice it and now it was gone. Damon holds it in one hand, while the other gently rest at the back of her neck, holding her gaze with his. He watches as her pupils slowly dilate. He holds the locket up for her to see. "You can wear it as you please." He whispers and slowly she nods.

He breaks the compulsion before he can talk himself into letting her remember that night. It just wasn't the right time for that. He hooks the necklace back around her neck. "Now, come on. Stefan and I have something very important to talk to you and Elena about."

"Oh really?" Damon stands, and Adele follows his lead. "About what?"

"We're giving you the deed to our house." He answers as he's walking out the room and Adele skids to a stop out of surprise. "What?"

~x~

Adele is still slightly shocked as they near the room where Stefan and Elena are and she can hear Stefan talking about Klaus. "Well, anything John told Isobel, we have to assume that Klaus knows, right? So he knows that you're not going to turn yourself into a vampire. He knows that you have us keeping you safe."

"He knows I'm not going to run." Elena points out just as they enter the room.

"Which is why we need to take some precautions because we got played, all of us." Damon says and once he reaches Elena, he slaps a stack of bound papers into her lap and she looks down at them in confusion.

"What's this?" She asks looking back up at them.

"It's the deed to our house. It's in Zach's name. As soon as you and Adele sign it, it'll be in your names."

"You're giving us your house?" Elena asks stunned as she looks back down at the papers and Adele moves over to her looking down at them as well. This is a very extreme move on their part.

"Isobel had the right idea with the safe house. You'll both just stay here till it's all over. That way, you can control who gets invited in and who doesn't." Stefan explains.

"Although, I'll be very pissed if you lock me out." Adele smirks at Damon but before she can give him any sort of response John who's lying over to the side takes a huge breath before shooting up into a sitting position.

No one has the chance to even move before Damon as John by the collar of his jacket and is holding him up, his feet dangling inches above the ground. "I swear I had no idea what she was going to do." John speaks up as quickly as possible, knowing he's probably seconds away from actually dying. He turns his head, catching the eyes of both his daughters. "I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry."

"Damon, let him go. He and I need to talk." Elena finally speaks up and after a few silent seconds Damon drops him to his feet.

"We'll leave you alone." Stefan says and Elena nods at him as he turns to leave. Adele goes to leave as well but Elena stops her. "We all need to talk." Adele glares. She wants nothing to do with John at the moment. She's had enough parent drama for one day.

~x~

"I always knew that she and Katherine were close, but I never realized that Isobel and her were working against me. Two of the world's most uncaring and selfish vampires, and yet they were genuinely friends." Adele sits back with her arms crossed over her chest as she listens to John.

"If that's what you thought of her, why did you ever put your trust in her at all?" Elena asks the same thing Adele was thinking but Adele made the decision she wasn't going to talk, as childish as that might be.

"Because I was there when she gave birth to you guys. I saw how heartbroken she was to give you both up. And because she was the first girl I ever loved, and when she said she'd help keep you safe... I believed her. At this point, I will do whatever you want me to do. If you feel safer with me not around, then I'll go."

Neither of them says anything; Adele doesn't meet his eyes as he looks at her and he nods, slowly standing up. Their silence seemed to have given him the answer.

"You screw up everything, John." Elena finally says, stopping John from leaving and Adele looks at her. What is she doing? "Everything you touch just falls apart…but you're the only parent I have left so maybe I can learn not to hate you." He nods again, smiling at her before looking at Adele who swallows and stands up. Sometimes Elena was better at trying then Adele was and this seemed to be one of those times.

"I'm sorry John; it's just not that easy."

~x~

She's about to jump in the shower, Damon and Stefan we're down stairs having a drink leaving her and her sister to getting ready for bed. Just as she's moving to turn on the water, her cell phone goes off singling to her that she had a text.

She picks the phone up, ready to ignore whoever it was but when she opens the message a small smirk finds its way onto her face.

_How about that rematch? ~Justin_

With only thirty minutes of sleep she was tired but she had a feeling, she wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight anyways, not to mention she had some energy to burn.

_You're on. I'll meet you at the park in 15. ~Adele _

She leaves the bathroom to change into some workout clothes instead of showering. She choices a pair of black joggers and a black Nikes sports bra with a thin zip up jacket thrown over it along with her sneakers, it was pretty cold outside but working out would keep her warm. She pulls her hair up into a messy pony tail and grabs her phone and car keys, thankful that she made Damon stop by the Lockwood's so she could get her car.

She goes to find Damon and Stefan and finds them in the study, toasting to something. She stops in the doorway and watches as they both turn to look at her, having heard her coming down the stairs. Damon frowns seeing her attire. "I'm going out, I'll be back later."

"Where are you going?" Stefan asks, placing his glass down.

"I'm meeting Justin at the park."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean with everything going on?"

Adele smirks at them, like she has a secret that she's not willing to tell them and technically she does. "I'll be perfectly safe, don't worry so much."

~x~

He's standing in the middle of the clearing, dressed in a pair of joggers and a tank top, smoking a cigarette and waiting for her. She walks up behind him as quietly as possible, hoping she could surprise him and as she's nearing him, her steps completely silent he spins around to face her causing her to jump back.

"Damn it! How did you do that? I'm an expert on sneaking up on people you know." He sends her one of his lopsided smile. "I'm a vampire hunter sweetheart, not much gets past me." He says as he stomps out his cigarette bud.

"You know…those things will kill you." Justin chuckles, remembering his early conversion with James only this time he's not going to hold back on his answer.

"I'm 95 percent positive I'm destined to die a much more painful death, not to mention bloody." The small smile Adele was wearing fades.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because, we die young. We're damn lucky to make it to the age James is now."

"How old is he?" Adele whispers her question, she's not sure she wants to know.

"38." She sucks in a breath and he sends her a warm smile. "I've come to terms with it. You have to, to live the life I do."

"How old are you?"

"21."

"That's only a 17 year gap." She points out and his smile turns into a smirk. "I know." She shakes her head at him, all traces of a smile gone. "I can't do that." She mutters. "I can't be like you. I can't be a hunter."

"You won't be." He assures her and she frowns.

"How can you be so sure? He said I'd join him, one way or another."

"James Taylor says a lot of things, most of them do happen but you, you're not like us, you're not made for this and I'll be damned if you end up like it."

"And how exactly are you…wait a minute…" Adele trails off, something he just said catching up to her. Her head tilts to the right, her eyes narrowing in on him. "James Taylor."

"Justin Taylor, son of Earl Taylor and nephew of James Taylor." He explains and Adele's not sure when the last time she felt so shocked was.

"He's family?"

"Unfortunately."

* * *

><p><strong>It would be awesome if we could get the reviews over 200 with this chapter. (: <strong>


	33. Chapter 33

**I am so sorry. I know it took me forever to update and I could bore you with the details of my computer problems and my lack of inspiration but I'm not going to. Just know I'm back and I'm going to try and update faster. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

**Please, please review. (:**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 33: The Last Dance<strong>

"Please sign here and here." The lawyer directs Elena as Adele sits back and waits for them to be done. She had already signed her fair share of the papers and now all she had to do was wait for Elena to be done and she was off to school. She sighs at the thought.

She had woken up at almost 6, after a restless night's sleep. She had tossed and turned for half the night, somewhere around 2:30 Damon had pulled her into his arms and ordered her not to move anymore. There she had laid, staring at the closed curtains to the windows drifting in and out of sleep until finally at 5:49 she had said to hell with sleeping and got up to go for a jog. When she had gotten back, Damon was dressed and ready for the day telling her that the lawyer would be there in 20 and she needed to get ready. It took her 10 minutes to shower and 10 to get dressed. She had finished just in time for the lawyer to knock on the door.

"So this place is all yours? They just gave it to you guys?" Adele glances up from her nails to look at Bonnie across the table. Bonnie was here to pick up Elena, because Elena was also planning on going to school today but Adele had no plans what so ever to go with them.

"For now." Elena answers. "As co-owners, we're the only ones allowed to invite a certain type of person in here, if you know what I mean."

"Basically, her own personal safe house." Adele adds as Bonnie takes the time to look around. All the times she's actually been in this house and this was the first time she has taken a good look around.

"Wouldn't want to clean it." She finally mutters causing Elena to laugh and Adele to snort. "That makes two of us."

After their finished, the sisters lead the lawyer to the front door. "Thank you, Mr. Henry." Elena calls to him once Adele has the door open and he's walking out. He bids them goodbye before he's gone, leaving just the brothers and them. Elena turns around ready to walk away as Adele smirks, leaning against the door to watch as they try to walk in but can't. Elena turns back, having realized her mistake.

"I'm sorry, I completely forgot." She laughs walking back over as Damon is smirking back at Adele who obviously hadn't forgotten, she was just enjoying the power she now holds over them while she can.

"Stefan," Adele glances at her sister, watching as she gives him a flirty smile. "Would you like to come inside _my_ house?"

"I would love to." Stefan steps through the door with no invisible barrier to keep him out as Elena turns to Damon who has looked away from Adele to look at Elena.

"What are we, 12?" He asks, in a completely sarcastic manor.

"One of us is." Elena retorts, causing Adele to roll her eyes. If anyone was acting 12 right now, it was Elena. "If I let you in, do you promise to obey the owner of this house?" Adele raises an eyebrow. Since when was she the sole owner?

"No." Damon scuffs.

"I'm serious Damon…"

"Elena shut up." Adele finally speaks up. She was having fun holding the fact that he couldn't enter over his head, but Elena had to go and ruin it for her. "Damon…" He looks at her and she sends him a smile much like the one Elena sent Stefan. "Would you like to come in?"

"I would love to." He responses in the same fashion Stefan had but in a much lower voice as he sends Adele a seductive smile back and passes by them. Elena looks to her sister but doesn't say anything. It's not like her sister would listen to her anyways. Bonnie comes up beside them, handing Elena her jacket to slip on as Adele slips into her own leather jacket.

"Wait," Stefan says having noticed them all getting ready to leave. "Where are you guys going?"

"To school." Elena answers.

"No. No. No. We did not create a safe house for you to leave it." Damon speaks up after having gotten himself a glass of Bourbon.

"Yeah, guys, Klaus is out there. We know that." Stefan adds.

"Right. But where?" Elena looks between the brothers, who don't answer her. "No one knows. Look, I really appreciate what you guys are doing. And I'll be able to sleep at night knowing that I'll be safe here, but I'm not going to be a prisoner."

"She's right. Guys, you can't lock her up here and you sure as hell can't lock me up here. He's not even after me, plus I'd stake you both in your sleep if you tried." She grins at them, the only indication that she's joking. All of them turn to Damon, if anyone was going to argue, it would be him but all he does is send them a tight smile and a, "Your way, Elena."

"Don't worry, I'm ready. If he shows his face, I can take him." Bonnie assures them and Adele rolls her eyes, at this rate they we're going to be late.

"Look guys, the way I see it is that next to Bonnie is the safest place she can be." Bonnie looks over to Adele surprised that she would actually be agreeing with her or admitting that Bonnie was powerful enough to look after Elena. "Now come on, we're going to be late." She opens the door, ushering the two other girls out of the house and Stefan looks to Damon before calling after them, "Wait, I'm coming!"

~x~

Caitlyn Sanders, Jason Smallwood and another girl named Lucy Keller catch up with her as she's walking away from her sister, Bonnie and Stefan. She could sit with them after school and juggle ideas on how to save Elena's life but for now, she needs a break from it and what better way to escape them then in school where she barely ever ran into her sister. The three exclaim how much they've missed seeing her around as they walk.

"I've seen you around town but I never came up to you because you because you always looked busy. You seem to spend a lot of your time with Stefan's really hot older brother." Lucy was saying as they reached Adele's locker.

"Oh yeah, I've seen you with him to. Him and Stefan look nothing alike and he is really hot." Caitlyn agrees with her friend causing Jason to glare ever so slightly at her.

"I've seen him to. Isn't he a little old for you Gilbert?" Adele grins at Jason, he too belongs to a founding family of this town and has spent a lot of nights getting partly drunk with her and Tyler and trying to get her into bed at all the events founding families seem to have to attend over the years up until Michael threatened to put his head through a wall at one of the events last year.

"Why does everyone make it sound like he's so much older than I am? He's only 24 for shit's sakes." She laughs at their expressions.

"Really? Wow, I mean he doesn't look that old but for some reason I thought he was older than that." Lucy says.

"Still Gilbert, that's a 7 year difference."

"Well Smallwood, if you must know, we're not dating." She informs finally moving to unlock her locker.

"W-what do you mean you're not dating? You guys looked like a married couple from what I saw." Caitlyn squeezes out, her eyes wide and Adele didn't realize people actually thought they we're dating, let alone so serious about each other. This just fuels her thoughts that people should really stick to focusing on their own lives instead of other peoples.

"Okay, maybe you're not dating but come on, something is going on there. Maybe it's just causal?" Lucy offers and is just as mind blown as Caitlyn still looks when Adele shakes her head. "Nope. There's nothing going on there. I'll admit that though he's very, very good looking and so my type, it's a complicated situation that well never be uncomplicated enough to even try. Plus he's dating Andie Starr."

"That hot news chick?" Jason asks which has Caitlyn openly gaping at him; Adele wants to laugh at the couple but doesn't and instead goes with, "Yeah Smallwood. The hot news chick." As she's shaking her head she starts to pull the books she'll need out of her locker.

"Ugh." She glances back at Lucy. "You're so much prettier, no offence to her or anything."

"I do have to agree with Luce. Gilbert, she's hot and all but you're like sexy as hell." Adele closes her locker and turns around to face them, leaning back against it as she raises an eyebrow at him. Caitlyn and Lucy turn to him as well. "What? I'm only telling the truth here. She's hot but you're just hotter, I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks so."

Caitlyn rolls her eyes at him before looking at Adele. "Okay so if you're not dating…" Caitlyn trails off; it's obvious what her problem is. She has no idea what his name is.

"Damon." Adele says and Lucy seems to swoon.

"Even his name is hot."

"If you're not dating Damon, then who are you dating?" Caitlyn continues.

"Nobody." Adele answers as the locker next to hers is opened and Adele turns, smiling at Dana Weathers. "Hey Dana." The brunette turns seeming surprised to be noticed by the group seeing as they seemed to be is such a deep conversion about Adele's personal life.

"Hey Adele."

"You have History with Elena right?"

"Yeah."

"Could you pass on a message to Ric for me?"

"Um…Ric?" Dana frowns slightly at Adele and it causes Adele to laugh, she remembers that besides her, Elena and Stefan his students don't call him that. "I'm sorry, Mr. Saltzman." She corrects herself.

"Oh, oh yeah, sure." Dana smiles back at her.

"Just tell him, I'm going to be late to class, I'm having lunch with a couple friends off campus."

"That's what you want me to tell him? That you're having lunch with friends?" Dana tilts her head to the side, studying Adele like she had gone mad.

"Yeah. Tell him it's important and if he has a problem with it to text me." Dana shakes her head lightly before nodding.

"Yeah, okay. See you around." With that she walks away leaving Adele with Caitlyn, Jason and Lucy.

"You and Mr. Saltzman are tight?" Jason asks with narrowed eyes. He had the guy for 3rd period and he seemed pretty cool but he never thought some of his students we're that close to him.

"He's dating my aunt. He's like my uncle." Adele laughs.

~x~

"Jasmine, just be ready. 15 minutes, we're on our way." She throws her backpack into the backseat, while adjusting her position to get more comfortable. Once she's done and Justin feels the other students of the high school have stared long enough, he pulls away from the curb.

"Do they usually stare like that?" He asks after she hangs up the phone and she sends him a questioning glance before she realizes what he's asking and sighs, running a hand over her forehead.

"Depends on who I'm with. They didn't stare so much when I was getting picked up by Bruce, that's probably because they knew him but when Damon picks me up the staring get pretty bad but that's probably because half the town thinks I'm hooking up with him."

"Well, why aren't you…hooking up with him? I mean if the town thinks it why not make them right and it's not like you don't want to." Adele takes a moment to look at him; she's not sure where to start pointing out all the things wrong with that comment. So she'll start with the obvious.

"If James knew I was with him, he'd kill him. He'd think Damon was holding me back like Tony was and he'll do exactly what he did to Tony. I can't let that happen, not this time."

Justin is silent, thinking over her words as he stops the truck at the light. She takes his silence as him not having a response to her and turns away to look out the window but is surprised when she feels his hand grip ahold of hers which had been resting on her knee. She turns back to look at him and she's taken back by the intense look of his green eyes.

"You don't have to worry about James. He's not going to hurt you or Damon."

"How can you be so sure?" She whispers. He doesn't answer right away, he turns back to continue driving as the light turns green without letting go of her hand and she takes the moment to look at their hands and notice the tattoo on his inner wrist. It's a name in fancy cursive lettering. She's trying to make it out when he finally says something.

"Because I won't let him." She looks back up at him but of course he's not looking at her. His expression is hard; his eyes are darker then usually. She's not sure what to say so they ride in silence once more, that is until they pull up to the apartment complex and he finally turns to her, but before he says anything, she traces the tattoo with her finger, finally making out that the name is Corrie. "Who's Corrie?"

"My sister." He answers right away, and she's surprised. She didn't think he had any siblings.

"You have a sister?"

"Had. She's dead." Adele sucks in a breath out of reflex. She hadn't been expecting that though she realizes she probably should have. Still tracing the tattoo, she meets his eyes. "What happened?"

"Vampire." It's one word but it answers so many questions. She knew there had to be more to it then hunting being a family hobby.

"Did you…did you find the vampire who did it?" His eyes have grown much darker, leaving them a hard brown color and they seem slightly unfocused, gazed over by some distant memory that he's reliving and when he answers her, she shivers because though it's only one word, one small word, she's never heard him sound so terrifying. "Yes."

Wanting to bring him back to the present day, back to her, she places a hand on his cheek and out of reflex he leans into it, closing his eyes. When he opens them again, she's glad to see there back to their beautiful sage color. "Welcome back." She jokes lightly, and the corner of his lips twitch as he slowly starts to smile back.

He's opening his mouth to say something when a knock on the window causes them both to jump. Adele spins around with wide blue eyes to look at Jasmine who raises her hands and Adele unlocks the door before settling back into her seat to try and steady her racing heart.

~x~

"She kicked me in the nose." Jasmine snorts as Adele gaps at Justin. They had started telling Jasmine about the sparring they've been doing and Justin was recalling last night. "You pushed me, I fell and then you started ranting about how I suck at keeping my balance. You deserved it."

"Well if you could keep your balance, you wouldn't fall."

"This is why I kicked you in the nose because you're an asshole."

"I'm an asshole for trying to make you a better fighter? Well excuse me."

"You're excused." Adele smirks at him as she takes a sip of her ice tea. He playfully glares as Jasmine watches the two of them from across the table. They seemed quite comfortable with each other and she still wasn't sure who he was exactly. She knows his name is Justin and she knows they met just a couple weeks ago but that is all.

"So…" The two turn back to her. "How did you to know each other exactly?"

Adele places her ice tea on the table, glancing at Justin before meeting Jasmines gaze and right away she knows she's not going to like what Adele has to say.

"I've been telling everyone in town that Justin is someone I met in Florida over the summer…" Adele starts.

"And that is a lie." Jasmine points out, because she knows damn well Adele never met this guy in Florida.

"Yes it is. I met Justin a couple weeks ago when I was jogging through the woods, he was stalking me, very poorly I might add." Justin rolls his eyes but stays silent. "He works for James." Adele stops talking. She had been dreading this and by the look on Jasmine's pretty face, she had every reason to dread it.

"He…He works for James?" Her green eyes are wide, her pale face even paler.

"Yes." Adele nods.

"Are you…are you nuts? Why in the hell are we sitting here having lunch with him? We should be gone! We should've left town!" Adele shakes her head causing Jasmine to quickly stop talking.

"Believe me; I thought about leaving town but I can't. You know I can't, not right now anyways because not only am I having to deal with this hunter stuff but I have to help deal with this original wanting to sacrifice my sister bullshit as well and hey if I can kill at least one of these problems, I'm all for it which is why Justin is here. We don't know what James is planning."

"And he does?" Jasmine eyes the guy across from her.

"No. He doesn't but he's in way better position to find out what his plan is then we are. Think about it Jazzy, if we have someone on the inside, we have a better chance of beating James then we would have if we we're facing him alone. And Justin is on the inside. He's our ticket to beating James once and for all."

"You make it sound so easy." Jasmine mutters sarcastically before sighing and pushing dark hair out of her face. "How do you know we can trust him?"

"I…I just do." She shrugs before looking up at Justin. "Tell her what you told me."

"James is power hungry. He doesn't care about protecting the human society from vampires." Justin starts. "He believes that humans are the superior species and forever will be."

"Are you kidding me?" Jasmine cuts him off.

"No, I'm not. Until he finds a way to wipe vampires from existence, he plans to keep killing as many as he can. He's starting with clans, huge clans of vampires held up in cities and towns before he moves to taking out the ones who don't belong to clans, the ones like Damon and Stefan Salvatore, who come and go as they please but to successfully do this he needs good recruits, people he can count on to go on missions and come back from them. He needs leaders, people who can lead a large number of hunters into a house full of vampires and come out with mostly everyone alive. That I think is where Adele comes in. He wants her because he knows she's both strong enough and smart enough to lead a group like that."

"But what does he plan on doing to get her? He told her that she would join him one way or another. What does that mean?" Adele sits back, letting the two talk.

"I don't know. Everything I just told you about him wanting Adele as a leader is something I picked up on from bits and pieces of information I've been able to get out of others who've picked up on things. James has a plan but he says I'm too close to this to know right now and if he's not telling me I know damn well he's not telling anyone else. Whatever he's planning he's the only one who knows what it is and I intend to find out. It might take some time though."

"And when you find out what he's planning, how do you expect to stop him?"

"He's my uncle, if anyone can stop him it'll be me."

"Oh, you work for him and he's family? Of course, that's just awesome. What will he do if he finds out your plotting against him?" Jasmine asks and it's a question Justin's thought a lot about and there's only one certain answer he can come up with.

"He'll kill me." Adele makes a noise from beside him and they both turn to look at her.

"Kill you? He'd kill you? But your family." Adele points out, only to be met by a shrug from Justin.

"James doesn't care about family. He never has. All he cares about is the power he can obtain and he'll kill anyone who tries to get in the way. I know what you're thinking Adele and I'm not backing out now. He needs to be stopped."

Adele doesn't say anything, she knows anything she'd say would fall on deaf ears because he wasn't willing to listen, he made it obvious by leaning back and taking a sip of his water while avoiding all eye contact with either of the two girls.

Adele finally sighs and looks away when her cell phone rings on the table. She picks it up, seeing it's a text from Elena, she takes the distraction and opens it. Jasmine is scared out of her thoughts when Adele's chair scraps back across the cement and Justin looks up at her as she stands. "We have to go. We have to go now." Adele demands. She grabs her leather jacket from the back of the chair; she throws down some money to pay for lunch before practically jogging to the truck. Justin and Jasmine are behind her.

"What's going on?" Justin asks when there finally on the road back towards the school.

"Klaus made his first move. I need to get to Elena and Bonnie now." She's frantically texting someone, most likely Elena but her answer makes him swerve. Jasmine shirks as he quickly regains control and gets back into his own lane. He sends an alarmed glance in Adele's direction. Klaus? First she was dealing with Elijah and now she's dealing with Klaus? What the hell has she gotten herself into?

~x~

She's unlocking the door to her Mustang, having told Elena to find Stefan and get to the boarding house. She's in the middle of calling Damon when she gets the door open. "Are you skipping class Miss. Gilbert? How very naughty of you." Adele raises an eyebrow at this before smirking. "Are you really that bored Damon? I've skipped plenty of classes to spend the day with you."

"Amuse me." She can hear the smirk in his voice and laughs. Fine, if he wants to play.

"Your right Damon, it's very naughty of me."

"You deserved to be punished."

"Oh yeah? Who's going to punish me? You? Please Damon, do tell."

"Adele!" She jumps, at least ten feet in the air, whipping around to find Dana standing behind her.

"Oh my god, you scared the shit out of me." Dana bites back a smile at the blonde.

"I'm sorry, I saw you and thought I'd let you know, that I didn't get a chance to tell Mr. Saltzman about you being late right after class, so I went right before lunch. He told me and I quote, "Tell her to take all the time she need, that I'll be seeing her very soon anyway.""

"He said that? Like…exactly like that?" Adele frowns at her and Dana nods at her. "Hm. Weird. He must've been half way to drunk or something." Adele shrugs. "Whatever. Thanks Dana."

"No problem and if you could mention to your sister about that guy I was talking to her about early. That'd be awesome." Adele stiffens.

"What guy?"

"His name is Klaus. He's so cute. I know she has Stefan and everything but she seriously needs to see this guy…" Dana keeps talking but Adele has stopped listening. Her jaw clenches and unclenches.

"I'll be sure to do that Dana but right now I really got to go." She cuts off the still talking girl who looks surprised before smiling.

"Alright. See you later." She runs off, back towards the school as Adele goes back to her phone call with Damon.

"What was that?" Damon demands and she sighs, getting into the car.

"That is what I called you about in the first place but you distracted me. Klaus made his first move."

~x~

"So we go to the dance, we find him." Adele is watching from the sidelines, as Damon paces back and forth through the middle of the group. Elena had just finished explaining to them exactly what happened at lunch and everyone had been silent for a few stretched out minutes before Damon had finally said something and to Adele it wasn't a bad idea but of course others would have to disagree.

"Really? How are we going to do that? We don't even know what he looks like." Stefan points out to him.

"Something tells me he's not going to be 16 and pimply." Damon throws back and this back and forth that's beginning makes Adele roll her eyes.

"He could be anywhere at any time. He compelled somebody at school." Suddenly Stefan turns to them. "I guess it's not as safe as you guys thought huh?" To which Adele throws her arms up, in a frustrated manor that causes everyone to look at her. So far she had been silent, so silent they almost forgot she was there.

"Really? Really Stefan? You're going to throw an I told you so in our faces right now? How about we focus less on our mistake and more on what we're going to do about the big bad vampire out to drain all the blood from Elena's body. How about we focus on that for a minute because I can bet you everything I own that Klaus is out there laughing at us as we run around like chickens with our heads cut off because right now he knows damn well he has us beat. Damon's right. We need to go to that dance and we need to find him. It doesn't matter if we don't know what he looks like. We can find him."

The way she says it, makes it sound pretty simple but they all know it's not going to be that easy. Nothing is ever that easy. Before anyone can say anything there's a knock at the door and Adele takes the distraction to take a deep breath and answer it.

It's Alaric.

"Finally. I texted you like an hour ago." He looks at her, just looks at her for a minute, like he's studying every little detail of her face and she raises an eyebrow.

"Sorry, I got…held up." She nods, buying his excuse and walks away from the door, leaving it opened for him to come in. He closes it after entering the house and sends everyone else a smile.

"I need you to put me down as a chaperone at the dance tonight. Klaus made his first move." Damon informs Alaric as Adele comes to his side. Alaric doesn't say anything, he just moves further into the room.

"Ok, so we find him and then what, hmm? What's our plan of attack?" Elena asks, running a hand across the back of her neck. This whole situation was stressing her out.

"Me." Everyone turns to look at Bonnie. "I'm the plan. He has no idea how much power I can channel. If you can find him, I can kill him."

"That's not going to be that easy. I mean, he is the biggest, baddest vampire around." Alaric chuckles causing Adele to narrow her eyes at him, what's up with him today? She looks around to everyone else, but they don't seem to notice that Alaric is acting just a bit strange so she shrugs it off. Maybe she's just being paranoid.

"Alaric has a point. I mean what if he…" Damon breaks his sentence off by running full speed at Bonnie, who throws up a hand sending him flying across the room where he slides across a table and onto the floor; Adele lets her surprise show because she laughs as Damon's head pops up from behind the table.

"Well I was impressed." Stefan nods at them and both Gilberts agree as Damon stands up, brushing dust from his jacket.

"It doesn't matter if he's an Original. I can take down anyone who comes at me. I can kill him, Elena. I know I can." Elena smiles at Bonnie, completely confident in her friend's ability.

~x~

_She's sitting on the beach, her feet digging into the sand in front of her as she smiles. It's bright out; the sky is clear with no clouds in sight. The water is clam as she looks out towards it. She breaths in and her smile widens. _

"_Are we done yet?" Her smile drops to a smirk and she turns her head to gaze up at him, the bright sun reflecting off his blonde hair perfectly and his doe eyes are glowing. _

"_What? You don't like it here?" she mocks him, knowing he doesn't. He takes a seat next to her and she moves into his side out of relax, his arm wrapping tightly around her shoulders._

"_Are you kidding? I love it! It's so hot and I feel like I'm burning but we both know that's not possible. I only come here for you. Because I'd do anything for you." She shakes her head, turning back to look at the water as she leans her head against his shoulder. There we're very few people out today, mostly just them and a couple women with children. She watches as one mom chases her toddler around before picking him up and bringing him into the water as he squeals and laughs. She smiles again. _

_She feels his lips, against her temple. "You know I love you right?" He whispers to her and she turns to face him wondering what brought that on though her cheeks warm and the butterflies in her stomach swarm. Had he been watching the mom as well? She knows he used to want kids, but now he can't have any. "Of course Tony, I love you to." _

_He smiles at her, that perfect dimpled smile that she loves so much and stands, holding out a hand to her. "Good." He jerks his head to the water. "Now come on." She places her hand into his, and as he pulls her up and forward, she closes her eyes briefly. _

_Opening them, her blue eyes meet lighter blue eyes and she didn't realize she was holding her breath until she inhales sharply, the intensity of his stare making her blood boil. Aerosmith's I Don't Want to Miss a Thing is playing softly in the background as he pulls her closer by the hips. _

"_We…we should really help Elena and Stefan." She mutters softly. _

"_If I didn't know any better, I'd say you we're trying to get away from me." His voice is low, husky and she shivers. _

"_No, never." She's breathless as he lifts her, with his left arm around her waist and his right hand in hers and spins her around softly to the music. _

"_I say, we ditch this town. We could go anywhere. Anywhere you want. Where do you want to go Kitten?" His lips brush her ear as he talks. _

"_Rome." She answers automatically and she feels him smile. _

"_Rome it is." _

"_But we can't just leave. Not now." He spins her around again before placing her back on her feet. _

"_If you want to leave, we'll leave. Whatever you want, you'll get because you know I love you." Her knees weaken and the little butterflies that she hates so much swarm in her stomach. _

"_I love you to Damon." He pulls back, his eyes moving over her lips before meeting hers once more. As he leans forward, her eyes close. _

_When they open again, she's standing alone, alone in the middle of town square. She looks around to make sure she's really alone and spots The Grill; maybe if she goes there, she'll find someone she can talk to, to ask what's going on and why the town is so empty. She goes to take a step in that direction. _

"_Adele." Her eyes snap up, wide and expressing her surprise. Why is he here? What is he doing in Mystic Falls? If he's here, where are the others? _

"_Tony." With a second glance, she notices how incredibly pale he looks. Though he's pale all the time, he looks paler, his eyes look weak and not so bright and as he stumbles, he starts to bleed. His white shirt is quickly staining with blood and he stumbles again before coming to a stop. She starts over to him, wanting to help him, wanting to heal him. _

_Something thuds behind her and she whirls around out of shock and is left feeling horrified. "Damon!" He's on one knee, trying to push himself up to a standing position. She can't tell from so far away if he's bleeding to, but she thinks he is, as he clenches to his shirt in the area above his heart. "Adele." He chokes out and her eyes fill with tears, she wants to go to him. _

"_I don't understand! What's going on?" She cries. She has no idea what to do. She can't go to both of them and there both hurt, both bleeding with no sign of stopping. There not healing like they should and at this rate there going to die, the both of them. She glances back to Tony just as he falls to his knees as well. _

With a jolt, she sits up, her breathing rigid and pieces of her hair sticking to her forehead. She's sure she's crying but she can't bring herself to wipe away the tears. She stares straight ahead, until she feels the bed beside her shift. She jumps as a hand touches her back; she turns her head and meets the concerned eyes of Damon. She visible relaxes.

"Are you okay?" He whispers, narrowing his eyes against the light coming through the window. By his ruffled hair and wrinkled clothes, she realizes he had been sleeping as well and now remembers. She remembers going up to his room after everyone had left to get ready. They still had a good few hours before they actually had to be ready and she was so tired, she felt dead on her feet.

Damon had followed her, telling her that he had no idea what they we're supposed to do until the dance and she had kicked off her shoes before turning to him and telling him she had a good idea. She was going to sleep and he was welcomed to join her and that's just what he did. She had fallen asleep right when her head hit his chest.

"Yeah. Yeah I'm fine." She finally answers back and he lies back down. She follows suit, placing her head back on his chest. "Bad dream." She mummers as he runs his fingers through her hair, untangling the knots they come across. "You seem to be having a lot of those. Are you sure you're okay?" He wasn't wrong. She's been having this dream for days, which might have something to do with her being so reluctant to fall asleep and stay asleep. The dream just didn't make any sense to her and it had a way of unnerving her greatly.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I promise. Let's just…go back to sleep." She's met with a sigh as he shifts slightly to look at the alarm clock. "As appealing as that sounds, we should start getting ready."

"I don't want to." She groans turning her head, to bare it in his chest. He chuckles.

~x~

She's walking behind Damon who is behind the rest of them as they enter the dance. After sitting in the middle of Damon's bed for 15 minutes wondering what to wear she gave up and decided to go in what she was wearing. Her and Damon happen to look the most normal here tonight besides Damon's leather pants which she starting teasing him about the minute she saw them.

As she's walking, she barely has time to glance over when Lucy comes barreling into her. She stumbles slightly as Lucy begins to giggle with a hand thrown over her mouth. Damon stops having witnessed the whole thing as Caitlyn and Jason come running up as well. Adele waves Damon off, telling him to stick with her sister and she'd catch up. When he's gone she turns to the three others.

"Is she drunk?" Adele asks and Caitlyn sends her a guilty smile. "You have to be kidding me! You guys got her drunk?" Lucy throws an arm around Adele's shoulders. "I'm not drunk, only slightly…drunk. All I had was a couple shots of tequila. That's all. I swear." She starts to giggle again as Adele sends an annoyed glance Jason and Caitlyn's way.

"She's a light weight. You guys know that. If she gets caught like this, she could get expelled. You need to sober her up." When they just nod but stand there she rolls her eyes. _"Now."_ They jump and each grab an arm before pulling Lucy away from her. "Don't worry Gilbert. She'll be fine, I promise." Adele shakes her head. Why she sometimes hangs out with such idiots she'll never know.

"Thanks for being here everybody. We've got a special shout out tonight." Adele looks up to the stage, Dana is standing up there regarding everyone. "This is for Elena, from Klaus." Her eyes widen and turn to meet Damon's who's standing with the others, in the middle of the gym and all the people. She begins her way over there.

"That was a lame cheap shot. He's just trying to bait us." Damon remarks moving to stand beside Adele, who's finally made it over to them.

"I know everyone here." Elena mentions, looking around at all the faces around them.

"Maybe he's not here. Just wants us to believe that he is." Stefan points out but Adele finds that highly unlikely.

"No." She says, catching there attention. "He's here. He's definitely here." They know she's right, so Damon speaks up again.

"It's a party people. Blend. Let him come to us."

"Good idea." Bonnie grabs a hold of Jeremy's arm, moving him further into the crowd of people. Catching on to what she's wanting of him, he starts to drag his feet. "No. No, I really don't want to dance."

"Too Bad."

"There's Alaric." Damon points and Adele spots him as well. "We'll be back."

~x~

Adele comes up on one side of Alaric and he turns to look at her, staring at her like he's once again studying the details of her faces, like's she some kind of interesting creature he's never seen before. "Adele." He finally greets but it sounds sort of like a question and she raises an eyebrow. "Hey. Are you okay? You're acting kind of strange."

"Oh. Yeah, I'm fine. Special dedication, huh? This guy's a little twisted." Alaric says and watches her closely as she shrugs a shoulder.

"Yeah well I'm not impressed."

"No?" He seems slightly surprised which makes Adele look at him again. There is seriously something up with him today.

"Not at all." It's Damon who answers as he comes up on the other side of Alaric. Alaric turns to him. "Let us know if you see anything out of whack." He says before there both gone, disappearing into the group of people and Alaric is slightly taken back by the way they seem to work and move more as if they were the same person then two separate people.

~x~

Damon pulls her in close as they sway to the slow song playing. After dancing with Elena, to keep an eye on her and then dancing with Bonnie because he had something he needed to talk to her about, he was finally getting the chance to dance with Adele. He was hoping this chance would come while they we're here. They had danced at the last decade dance so they had to go for two. He also wanted to break the news to her.

"I should probably tell you this, so you don't find out some other way, which I'm sure you would." He says causing her to pick her head up from his shoulder to look at him. "If Bonnie takes on Klaus, she's going to die." He blurts out, deciding it's best not to sugarcoat it. Adele stops dancing.

"What? Are you serious?"

"Dead serious…no pun intended." He remarks and she pulls away from him, running a hand through her hair.

"Does Elena know?" Damon shakes his head.

"You know if she finds out, she's going to try and stop her."

"Damon…we can't let her do this."

"Yes we can. Adele, she wants to do it. She's risking everything for Elena because she loves her; she's doing exactly what we would do, exactly what Elena would do for her." He pulls her to him once again. "We have to let her do this Adele." She sighs, laying her head back down on his shoulder. She would accept that for now. Hopefully unlikely but hopeful they could figure out something else.

~x~

Adele was alone in the gym, well not alone, there are people everywhere but no one she was looking for. Adele's not sure where the people she needs to be with went. Stefan had come and dragged Damon away, Jeremy had disappeared long ago and Elena had disappeared with Bonnie and now even Alaric was gone.

Alaric. He had been acting strange all day and night. Something was going on with him but she just couldn't put her finger on it. From what he told Dana to tell her, to their small conversion just over an hour ago she was already feeling like he wasn't the same person. She almost laughs at the thought that Alaric could ever change and here her mind is taking an even more humorous train of thought. What if somehow, if it was possible, he wasn't really Alaric after all? She smirks. It wouldn't be the strangest thing to happen to them.

She takes out her phone, ready to start calling people when she freezes, her eyes widening.

"_That's not going to be that easy. I mean, he is the biggest, baddest vampire around." Alaric chuckles causing Adele to narrow her eyes at him, what's up with him today? She looks around to everyone else, but they don't seem to notice that Alaric is acting just a bit strange so she shrugs it off. Maybe she's just being paranoid. _

"_Alaric has a point. I mean what if he…" Damon breaks his sentence off by running full speed at Bonnie, who throws up a hand sending him flying across the room where he slides across a table and onto the floor; Adele lets her surprise show because she laughs as Damon's head pops up from behind the table. _

"_Well I was impressed." Stefan nods at them and both Gilberts agree as Damon stands up, brushing dust from his jacket. _

"_It doesn't matter if he's an Original. I can take down anyone who comes at me. I can kill him, Elena. I know I can." Elena smiles at Bonnie, completely confident in her friend's ability. _

_Adele's not paying much attention to the rest of them, her eyes are on Alaric, who has taken a small step back from them and is looking at Bonnie, his expression shows…worry. He catches her looking and sends her a slight smile to which she smiles back._

Oh my god. No. It can't be possible. Is it? Is it possible to do that? Adele quickly dials Damon's number but when it goes straight to voicemail she curses and dials Stefan's, while quickly leaving the gym. She needs to find Elena. Now.

~x~

Nobody is answering there phone and she is cursing all of them. She needs to get to Elena before he does. How could they not see it? Because they didn't think it was possible, because they trust Alaric, but's she's sure now. She's 99.9 percent positive.

She's running through the halls, taking sharp turns, hitting dead ends and having to turn around, the fear that she might be too late threatening to consume her.

Adele's turning a corner when she hears voices. She skids to a stop, listening closely, trying to make out where and who they we're coming from. "I just had to get away from that dance. 60's, ugh! Not my decade. I mean, whose call was that, anyway? I much prefer the twenties. The style, the parties, the jazz." Alaric, its Alaric's voice and Adele takes off running in the direction she heard it.

"Alaric, are you one vervain?" That's Elena.

"Now, why would you ask me that question Elena?"

"He's being compelled." Elena says.

"Nope, try again." Alaric sings just as Adele comes running around the corner. He sees her just as she spots him. Her eyes move to Elena who is to close for her comfort.

"Elena!" She calls causing both her and Bonnie to turn around. "Back up! Get away from him!"

"What? What's going on?" Elena looks back to Alaric who is smirking at Adele as she stares back, not willing to look away from him. She's not sure what he can do yet and she's not willing to find out.

"That's not Alaric." Adele moves forward with every intention to grab Elena and run. Does he have super speed in a human body? She was planning on finding out. Elena looks confused as Bonnie shakes her head, not sure what to think. Adele looks wild, she's not sure if the girl has just gone crazy or what.

"Beauty and Brains, I have to hand it to you Adele, you are not at all what I expected. It's hard to surprise me and you have done just that." Alaric's smirk is now a full blown smile. He looks generally happy she figured it out.

Something seems to click in Elena's head, as she whirls around to face him; her brown eyes are wide with fear. "Klaus." Bonnie whirls around as well, looking just as shocked as Elena feels. "No, no. It's not possible." Elena mutters.

"Just relax Elena. I'm not here to hurt you. You're not on my hit list, tonight." His eyes move over to look at Bonnie. "But you are." He comes at her and out of relax Bonnie throws her arms out and Klaus goes crashing into the lockers. Adele flinches because that's still Alaric's body and if she kills it, he'll never come back.

He lets out a groan before slowly getting up. "Now, did I mention that I knew a witch? You're going to have to hit me a lot harder than that."

Bonnie throws her arm up again and this time, he's thrown across the hall and into the trophy case. Adele gasps, completely horrified now that she realizes Alaric might not make it out of this, not that he's there anyways but they could still get him back.

Klaus laughs. "By all means, fire away." He stands up again. "If you kill this body, I'll just get a new one. Maybe Jeremy."

Bonnie realizing this was going to be much harder then she expected, waves a hand at the twins. "Go. Run. Run!" It's automatic, she's not even aware she's doing it as she turns around but she's running, running through a couple of double doors, into another hall way. Bonnie uses her magic to close the doors behind them.

In perfect timing, Damon comes running into the hallway, Adele runs for him, moving herself behind him and he's happy to use his body to block her, though he's not sure what's going on. She's obviously terrified as she grabs ahold of his arm in her trembling hands not to mention the way she threw herself behind him; Adele never ran from anything unless it was fire, let alone hid. "What happened?" He demands.

"Klaus is in Alaric's body." Adele informs him, and he's not sure he heard her right.

"He's possessing it or something." Bonnie says, so he did hear that right. No wonder everyone looks so shaken. "You…" He looks at Elena. "Go find Stefan." She nods, before running off and Damon grabs a hold of Adele's arm pulling her forward and over to Bonnie. "Can you kill him?"

"Damon, no!" Adele snaps, she understands that Klaus is possessing Alaric but it's still Alaric, he has to be in there somewhere. He's trapped in there with that monster. Damon shushes her and she bites her tongue.

"He's got some kind of protection spill on him." Bonnie answers.

"You have the power of a hundred witches, break it." Damon snaps.

"I'm trying. If I kill Alaric, he'll just possess someone else. He knows I have my power, Damon. He's trying to kill me." Damon looks to Adele who nods, letting him know that, that is in fact what was going on.

Damon's icy blue eyes start to burn with fury. "No." He snaps. "Klaus does not get to win tonight, no way. You still willing to do whatever it takes to kill him?" he slips his hand, down into Adele's, squeezing it, letting her know he's got a plan.

~x~

There walking down the hall, looking for Stefan and Elena, knowing they would be coming around any corner at any time. There's silent, Adele has a few thoughts running through her head at once and Damon looks to be in thought as well.

As there coming into the hall they found Damon in the first time, Stefan and Elena come running around the corner. "There you are." Damon calls walking towards them, Adele right beside him.

"What are you guys doing? Where's Bonnie?" Elena asks. Adele and Damon glance at each other before Damon answers.

"She's doing what she has to."

"What?" Elena snaps.

"Where is she?" Stefan demands.

"Stefan, let her do this." Damon responses but Stefan steps forward.

"Damn it, Damon, where is she?" Damon doesn't answer so Elena steps forward as well, grabbing her sister by the arm.

"Tell me where she is." Adele yanks her arms away, glaring at Elena.

"Don't touch me." She warns before looking up at Damon.

"Just tell them. They won't be able to stop her anyways." With a sigh Damon looks at them. "Cafeteria." He mutters and they watch as the couple takes off in that direction. Adele turns to look up at Damon. "Are you sure this is going to work?"

"No." He sighs. "But it's our best shot."

~x~

He wants to do something, something to help but he can't. It's too late but that doesn't make it any less hard as Elena cries repeating the word no over and over as she pulls Bonnie into her lap. The young witch had died trying to save Elena but it hadn't worked. She had died for nothing because Klaus got away.

The click of heels against the tile floors has Stefan turning around to see Adele with her hands stuffed into the pockets of her leather jacket, her expression one of guilt as she watches her sister. The blonde Gilbert feels horrible, he can tell. But Damon, who is standing next to her, is expressionless.

"Stefan," Elena looks up in surprise at Damon and her sister. She didn't know they we're there. "Get her out of here; we'll deal with the body."

"What do you mean, deal with it?" Elena demands pulling Bonnie further into her lap. She doesn't want Damon near her. Damon rushes forward. "The Sheriff can't know about this. Last thing we need's another mysterious death." He's being a jerk, Adele thinks and on any other night she would call him out on it but he had a reason and she knew what it was. "This is Bonnie!" Elena yells, not letting Damon take the body. Damon looks up at Stefan in annoyance. Adele walks forward. "Take her home Stefan. Now would be nice, you know so we can clean this up."

Elena glares at her through tear filled eyes but Adele doesn't look at her. She can't bring herself to. It was bad enough that she was doing this; she wasn't going to make herself feel worse by watching the tears.

"Hey, hey, hey." Stefan mutters as he helps Elena to her feet.

"No. Jeremy. Oh, my God, Jeremy. What about Jeremy?" Elena says and Adele had been thinking the same thing for a while.

"I'll talk to him." She assures her sister as Stefan leads her away though she puts up a good fight. Damon looks up at Adele who shakes her head. Damon looks down at the witch before slowly he closes her eyes.

~x~

Adele pops the trunk for Damon as he carries Bonnie around to the back of the car. She had texted Jeremy a SOS message telling him to meet them at the car 5 minutes ago, now she was just waiting for him to show up.

Damon gives Bonnie's body one last glance before closing the trunk and coming around to Adele. Before she can say anything Jeremy calls her name. She turns watching him run up. "I got your text! I can't find anyone. Where's Elena? Where's Bonnie?"

He's not sure what to make of his sisters expression at the mention of Elena and Bonnie but it doesn't look good. "Jer…we need to talk."

~x~

Damon closes the door behind him, having let Adele go in first; she's the one who gets bombarded by Elena. "What did you do with her?" Adele who's had more than she can handle on such little sleep looks at Stefan. "Will you calm her down?"

"Don't talk about me like I'm not standing right in front of you." Elena snaps.

"Fine. Please calm down." She snaps back.

"You knew. You knew that if she harnessed all that power, that she would die, didn't you?"

"Not before tonight no." Adele answers.

"But you still knew in time to try and stop her, you still let her do it." Adele stares at Elena before nodding. She's shocked when Elena reaches out and slaps her. Elena seems shocked herself as she throws a hand over her mouth. Adele reaches up, running a hand across her stinging cheek while looking back at her sister with narrowed blue eyes as Damon rushes forward, sensing a fight.

"You need to listen to me," He starts, putting himself between the two. "And prepare for what I'm about to say. Bonnie had to die. Klaus using Alaric's body was a total surprise. She wasn't prepared for that. And he wasn't going to stop, and we weren't going to be able to stop him until he knew she was dead. He had to believe it."

Elena's mouth opens, she's not sure what he's saying to her, not sure if what she's thinking is true or not. She looks at Adele, who is now standing with her fist shoved into her leather jacket. Her blue eyes are hard. "She casted a spell." Adele answers her unspoken question. "Bonnie's ok." With that finally out, she turns around making her way towards the stairs to change and knows Damon is following her as she hears his footsteps behind her.

There on the stairs when Damon turns back to see Stefan following them as well. Adele stops. "You know, you could've told me." He points out to them but Adele shakes her head as Damon answers. "How do I know when you're going to go blabbing things to your girlfriend?"

"You understand what you put her through?" Stefan asks, the question directed at both of them.

"See, that's why we didn't tell you. 'Cause you would have never been able to do it. Don't get me wrong, Stefan. We don't mind being the bad guys. We'll make all the life and death decisions while you're busy worrying about collateral damage. We'll even let her hate us for it." Damon pushes Adele further up the stairs before having a second thought and turning back. "But at the end of the day, we'll be the ones to keep her alive."

~x~

After changing into cotton grey shorts, a cropped white t-shirt and no shoes, grabbing a glass of bourbon and a blank from Damon's bedroom, she makes her way out back to sit and call Jasmine with the pleasure of privacy. She had to leave so suddenly early, she didn't get to know Jasmine's feelings on the whole Justin and James thing.

"Hey. I was wondering if I would hear from you again today." Jasmine answers on the third ring.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about early. Tonight had to be the worst night in a long time. I mean nothing beats _that_ night but this sure as hell came close."

"What happened?" Adele goes in to explaining everything that happened since she had to return to the school, Jasmine never interrupting her only listening to her friend rant.

"But she's okay now right?" Jasmine asks after she's finished.

"Yeah, I'm sure she's fine but…I'm not sure exactly for how long. She's our only hope right now."

"Well…" Adele shushes her quickly as she hears the backdoor opening. She thinks it's going to be Damon but is surprised to find it's Elena. "Hold on Jasmine." She mutters as Elena walks up to her, hugging her arms. "Hey."

"Hey."

"I um…I talked to Damon and I figured I should come talk to you as well. I just want you to know that I understand why you guys did what you did. Klaus is now fooled and Bonnie is alive which is all that really counts, but I'm going to tell you what I told Damon. Bonnie isn't dying for me. I won't let that happened."

"I don't think you understand that Bonnie might be our only hope at beating Klaus."

"And I don't think you understand what it feels like to know someone has died for you." Elena retorts and Adele laughs.

"Yeah Elena, I do. Five people died for me in one night. In one fight five people I loved with all my heart died to _save _me. I know what it feels like to have someone give there life for you and it's not a good feeling I know but I can't do anything about it now and If I knew I would've done anything to save them but in the end I fear it would've turned out the same way. Don't tell me I don't know Elena. I will help you, I will do anything to help you find another way because I don't want to see Bonnie give her life either but it might be all we have to save you and I will pick you over her. I will save you Elena, even if it kills me."

Elena feels the tears willing up again but fights them off. She doesn't want to cry any more but Adele just revealed to her more about her summer then she thinks she realizes and it sounds heartbreaking not to mention the dedication she has shown to her over the past couple of weeks.

"We can find another way." She says; her voice is strong though she feels anything but.

"I really hope we can."

"By the way, I'm sorry for hitting you." Adele laughs at this.

"Yeah, apology expected…but you know just don't do it again." Elena nods smiling.

"Never." She turns and walks back into the house. Adele returns to her phone call.

"That sounded intense." Adele sighs.

"I guess it kind of was. I wasn't lying. I do hope we can find another way." The backdoor opens again and within seconds Elena is back looking at her with wide eyes.

"I have an idea."

Adele tells Jasmine she'll call her back before hanging up. "Are you serious? You we're inside for like 2 seconds!"

"I know. But it just came to me." Elena is excited but there is a hint of worry in her brown eyes.

~x~

"Where are the brothers?" Adele whispers as she moves her way quickly through the house as quickly as possible. Elena is following close behind her. She was surprised at how quickly Adele jumped at her plan.

"Damon is in his room, Stefan is in his." Adele nods as the door she's looking for comes into view. She sends a look back to Elena as she moves towards it. Elena sends a glance around them, they only have one shot at this, if they get caught, they will never get another one. Adele pulls the door open easily so it doesn't make a sound and smirks at Elena has she slips through, Elena right after her.

They walk through the basement, pass Damon's freezer that stashes his blood supply and to the door that closes off the cellar from the rest of the basement. She unlatches the door but before she pushes it open, she turns to Elena. "This might not work. This might come back to bite us in the ass. Are you sure you want to do this because once we do it there is no going back. Not to mention Damon and Stefan are going to kill us."

Elena looks from her sister to the door before nodding. "We need to do this. This could be our one shot to save everyone." Adele agrees with a nod and pushes the door open to reveal Elijah's dead body. She had felt so guilty when they had done this to him, but now she guesses she's about to make up for it.

They enter the room and Adele bends down to him. She sends a glance back up to Elena, wanting to make sure this is what she really wants and Elena nods. Adele looks down at Elijah, grips the handle of the dagger with both hands and blows out a breath of air. _Damon, I am so sorry. _With that thought she yanks and the dagger comes free.

.


	34. Chapter 34

**I can't believe that after this chapter there are only three more to go. We're so close to the end. Just letting you know now that it might take some time for me to get the next chapter out. I'm going to write out the next three chapters just to make sure that I'm ending the story the way I feel it should end and make any chances I think should be made before I update. I'll try to be as quick as possible but I want it to be good for you guys. **

**Thank you all for your support, it means a lot to me. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 34: Klaus<strong>

Adele closes the bathroom door to the hallway as easy as possible. Last night she had told Damon that she was going to go over and stay with Jasmine, that the two had a lot to talk about when really she just needed to grab some clothes and go sit with Elena. When she had realized it was morning and Elijah still wasn't awake, she decided to change.

Looking down the hall towards Damon's room, she sees the door is still closed and sighs in relief. All she needs is for Damon to catch her. She turns back towards the stairs and begins her way to them.

She freezes, her foot in the air as she hears a door from behind her. She stops breathing; maybe if she stands completely still whoever it is won't see her. She can only hope. "Adele?" She turns around. To her surprise and relief, it's Andie.

"That would be me." Adele answers with a smirk. She might not want to be caught, but that doesn't mean she's not going to be a smart ass. "What either amazing pretty blonde with an amazing attitude do you know?"

"How long have you been here?" Andie asks completely ignoring snide question. She isn't at all thrilled to see her.

"Um…I just got back. Spent the night somewhere, is Damon still sleeping?" She just needs to make sure.

"Yeah but he should be up soon. What do you mean, just got back? You we're here before?" Adele can't help but roll her eyes, not only at the question but because she had just noticed what Andie is wearing, Damon's black button up and a pair of shorts.

"Wait…" Adele takes a closer look at the shorts, there small on her showing off more than they should. "Are those mine?"

"Oh…" Andie glances down at the shorts. "Yeah. Sorry. I'll give them back."

Adele shakes her head. "No. Keep them. Look, I have to go. Tell Damon, I'm going to be with Jasmine and that I'd really like it if he didn't offer up my clothes to other people and don't even think about touching my shoes."

~x~

"Okay, Damon is still sleeping. I just ran into Andie in the hallway. She was wearing my shorts." Adele says coming into the cellar. Elena is sitting against the wall next to the open door. She looks up as Adele enters and scrunches her nose. "Really? They actually fit her?" Adele shakes her head which causes Elena to snort a laugh.

Adele is about to explain that Damon could wake up any minute when Elijah finally gasps, his whole body jerking and Adele almost gags at the sound of cracking bones. Elena rushes forward, dropping the dagger as she does and Adele picks it up. Elena leans over Elijah who looks up at her with wide eyes. "Katarina!"

Elena looks back at Adele who shrugs. She had no idea what was going on in Elijah's head at the moment. He'd been dead for a few days now and he obviously thinks he's looking at Katherine. Just her name makes Adele's skin crawl.

"Elijah. It's me. It's Elena."

Adele faintly hears him mutter an oh my god before seeming to pass out which causes Elena to sit back and look at her again. "I don't know. Maybe he's tired." Adele says walking forward only to jump back when Elijah's body spazzes and he almost rolls over onto Elena. He pushes himself to stand up, his eyes landing on Adele standing in front of him. "I…I can't breathe. What is happening to me?" He tries to run, but his lack of oxygen causes him to slam into the wall. Adele rushes over to him, helping him to stand up.

"I can't…I can't be in this house." He looks up at her as she frowns. What is he…?

"You're not invited in." Elena says.

"Then get me out of here." Elijah groans but before they can do anything he's gone and Adele looks at Elena who takes off out the cellar door after him. Adele sighs before taking off after her.

~x~

Rounding the corner to the front door, they find it open and Elijah is one on knee outside trying to catch his breath. He looks up at them as the sisters stop just inside the house, making sure to stay where he couldn't get them, which proved to be a good idea when Elijah speeds up and tries to enter the house.

"What happened?" He finally speaks but Elena shushes him, pointing above them, telling him that the brothers we're upstairs.

"We'll tell you but not here." She whispers. "Can we trust you?"

He raises an eyebrow at them. "Can I trust _you_?" Elena looks to Adele and Elijah follows her gaze to look at the blonde as well. She slowly starts to nod. She flips the dagger in her hand, to hold the handle out to him. Elena seems surprised at this gesture but not as surprised as Elijah as he reaches out slowly thinking she might change her mind and try to use it instead. He only choses to believe them when he has the dagger firmly in his hand.

~x~

Stefan jolts awake, suddenly realizing that Elena wasn't in bed. He doesn't here her in the bathroom either so he slides out of bed. Maybe she had gone down stairs to get a drink. He pads quickly down the hall and down the stairs calling out her name to see if he'll get an answer. He doesn't.

Coming around the corner from the stairs, he sees Andie which is a little shocking to him. Why would she be here when Adele is? Unless Adele isn't here. Maybe she's with Elena, but then again where exactly would the _two _of them go together? He's come to notice that when those to get together _alone_ they have some kind of wicked plan that they don't want anyone else to know about. There both smart –or stupid depending on the way you look at it– enough to land themselves in trouble with their own wacky plans but get them together and you have plans that could turn deadly in a matter of seconds. Going to see Katherine in the tomb and sneaking off with Rose to try and find out more on Klaus are just two excellent examples.

"Hey." Stefan calls to her. She's standing there with a coffee mug like she's surprised to see him in his own house.

"Hey." She mutters back.

"Have you seen Elena?"

"Uh…no." She answers as Damon comes walking into the room.

"Hi Sweetie. Oh my coffee." He takes the mug from her before giving her a good morning kiss that has Stefan wanting to roll his eyes. His brother can be such a good actor when he wants to be.

"Good morning." Andie sings, smiling brightly at him.

"Mm, good morning." He mutters back to which Stefan actually does roll his eyes.

"Hey, where's Elena?" He calls to him, hoping maybe he had seen her.

"I don't know Stefan, she's your girlfriend. Mine's right here." He retorts as Stefan decided to just call her. He pulls his phone out of his pocket dialing her number all the while blocking the couple out. When her phone rings twice and then goes to voicemail he frowns. "Hey, it's me. Where are you? Call me." He hangs up turning back to Andie and Damon who are back to kissing.

"What are you doing? She's not a wind-up toy." He remarks to his brother who pulls away from the news reporter to glare at him. Andie seems to glare at him as well.

"It's really none of your business, is it, Stefan?" She snaps.

"Yeah, what she said." Damon smirks and Stefan raises his eyebrows before smirking back.

"And where's Adele? She's not somewhere around here?" Andie's glare hardens.

"She is at Jasmine's until later today. You see? At least I know where my twin is." Damon seems a bit smug about that to which Stefan nods. At this point he highly doubts that Adele is at Jasmines right now. She's with Elena and where ever they are, the two are up to no good. He just has a feeling.

"I have to go to work." Andie mutters letting go of Damon, Damon gives her a pouty face as she walks away from him. Stefan had turned around ready to go in search of Elena just to make sure he's not mistaken and she is somewhere around the house when he stops as his eyes catch sight of the door to the basement. It's wide open. He looks back over to Damon, who is looking back at him before taking off into the basement. Damon is right behind him.

Stefan skids to a stop at the open cellar door, cursing under his breath. Elijah is gone while Elena and Adele are nowhere to be found. Damon comes skidding to a halt right behind him, looking over his shoulder into the room. His mind is reeling, as he now realizes why Stefan had asked where Adele was. She had lied to him. She wasn't at Jasmines at all last night. She was in the house, going completely behind his back and once again risking her life.

"No, they didn't." Damon mutters more to himself then to Stefan. If that pain in his ass wasn't already dead, he was going to kill her himself.

~x~

They had taken off in Elena's car after grabbing a couple blood bags for Elijah. They had decided against taking Adele's, it was just a bit too small for the three of them, so she was now stuck driving Elena's car because she liked to be the one to drive. It was just the way she is.

She slows to a stop on the side of the road when she figures they are far enough away and turns to look at Elijah who is finishing the last of the blood bags. "You look better." Adele comments. She wasn't lying, finally with his color back, his eyes brighter and his hair back to being amazing, he really did look good besides the dirty clothes.

Elijah glances at the blonde Gilbert; he wants to make a comment about how she always seems to look good, but holds his tongue. Now was not the time for that. "Where did you get the dagger?" He finally decided to ask, feeling it was more vital at the moment. Elena leans forward from the back of the car. "We'll tell you everything, but we have to work together. Elijah, I need your word."

"Your ability to make demands has long passed." Elijah says in return. Adele looks back at Elena waiting for her to say something else. This was her idea, now she was going to take care of it.

"No demands. I'm offering you my help. And in return, I want yours."

"And why should I even consider this?" This time Elena looks to Adele who then turns to Elijah with a deep breath.

"The same reason that you haven't killed her. You need her help to kill Klaus. She needs you and…I need you." Elena looks between the two, Elijah seems transfixed on her sisters blue eyes which are wide and if Elena does say, they are quite hypnotizing. God! How does she do that? Elena seriously needs to ask, maybe she could learn.

Elijah breaks his gaze when Elena's phone rings. Adele turns in the driver seat to look back at her as she digs her phone out of her pocket. "It's Stefan." She mutters with a sighs. She answers but doesn't get anything out before Stefan starts.

"Where are you? Are you okay? Adele is with you isn't she? Is she okay?"

"I'm fine; Adele _is_ here and is fine too. We're fine." Elena answers quickly, she knew this was coming.

"Where's Elijah?"

"He's right here."

"Where? I'm on my way."

"No Stefan. Elijah, Adele and I need some time alone."

"Listen to me. He can't be trusted he'll use you both to get to Klaus." Elena looks from Adele to Elijah who is looking back at her.

"Elijah is a noble man, Stefan. He lives by a code of honor. We can trust him. He knows that we'd be incredibly stupid to betray him again. By removing the dagger, we have proven ourselves." It sounds like a well-rehearsed line to Adele; one Elena's probably been working on all night leading up to this one conversion. Elijah seems to think so as well.

"You can't do this alone."

"Which is why I'm not alone, I have Adele."

"That's not what I mean and you know it."

"It's our decision, Stefan. Please respect it." Elena looks like she's about to hang up when Adele stops her.

"Tell him to make sure Damon doesn't do anything stupid." Elena nods before giving Stefan the message and hanging up. Elijah holds his hand out to her and she sighs before handing him her phone. He then looks at Adele.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" It finally clicks. "Oh you have to be kidding me." When he raises an eyebrow she sees that he isn't and mutters a curse before digging into the waist band of her leggings and pulling out her cell phone. She hands it off to him.

~x~

"Did she just hang up on you?" Damon demands, having heard the dial tone before Stefan ended the call. "She did." Stefan confirms and Damon digs his phone from his pocket, quickly dialing Adele's number. When it goes straight to voice mail he lets out a long line of curses. "They've lost it." He snaps.

"If anyone can get him to help us kill Klaus, it's them." Stefan says sounding like he's not only trying to convince Damon but himself as well. Damon doesn't notice.

"Bonnie's the way to kill Klaus, Stefan. He thinks she's dead. We have a chance with her." Damon points out.

"She'll kill herself in the process. Elena's looking for another way and Adele is obviously trying to help her so she doesn't do anything to dramatic, like I don't know, turn herself over to Klaus. I can bet you all Adele is doing there is chaperoning Elena, all she cares about is her sisters safety, she doesn't care who dies to save her, like you, she'd rather see Bonnie die then Elena."

"Elena's way is going to _get_ her killed and it's going to get Adele killed as well which I'm not willing to see happen. We need to find them and stop them." Damon stands, ready to leave the house and tare the town apart if need be.

"No." Stefan stands as well. He happens to believe in both Elena and Adele. "You need to back off."

"What?"

"Look, I don't like this any more than you do. But we need to trust them. We got to just let them do their thing."

Damon shakes his head. "Elijah has some kind of weird interest in Adele. I don't want him anywhere near her. So that might be your plan but mines better." He moves to leave, to go out and find Adele but Stefan reaches out catching him by the arm in a tight grip. "I said back off." If Damon went storming in on Adele and Elena hell on earth would be unleashed without Klaus's help. Adele would have their heads if they didn't let her do her thing. He'd seen her pull a gun on Katherine for shit's sake, if she wasn't even the slightest bit afraid of hurting Katherine then she sure isn't afraid of hurting them if need be and he's not convinced she wouldn't try.

~x~

"He's here." Elena blurts out, having sat in silence long enough after ending her call with Stefan and Elijah taking their phones. Adele had decided that she wasn't in charge of this mission they've so bravely taken on and Elena's not too sure how she feels about that. Adele's never let her lead before.

"Klaus is here?" Elijah sounds…shocked, horrified, worried, Adele wasn't sure. Maybe it was a combination of the three.

"He's taken over Alaric body." She adds as an afterthought. She didn't expect Elena to be adding that in there anytime soon. At this, Elijah doesn't look so shocked.

"Of course he has. One of his favorite tricks." _Really?_ Adele thinks, her brows furrowing as she looks at Elijah. The more she hears about this guy, the more she doesn't like him.

"Well, what are his other tricks?" Elena starts. "What is he going to do next? You're the only one who knows him."

"Yes, I do." Elijah agrees but is otherwise silent. Adele blinks at him. She glances at Elena once who is also blinking at him.

"Are you serious? That's all you're going to give us?" The sound of her voice sounds just as irritated as she feels. Elijah looks at her before pointing to the road. "Drive." He commands and she has the urge to throw her arms up. She grinds her teeth and turns the car back on. "Where to your Majesty?" She all but snaps causing Elijah to grin and Elena to gap at her as she pulls out onto the road. "The Lockwood Manor." He answers.

The drive to the Lockwood manor is silent and the walk up to the house is filled with the sound of their footsteps only. It makes her uncomfortable and incredibly annoyed; she could tell this was going to be a long day. By the time she's done mapping out everything that could go wrong today, the door is opened and Carol is standing there.

"Elijah, Girls, what are you doing here?" Seeing Carol reminds Adele of Tyler who she had been pushing from her mind any chance she got. She missed him, she missed him a lot and she hasn't heard from him at all. She silently sighs. "What happened?" Carol is referring to the dirty shredded mess that is Elijah's clothes.

"I've had a bit of an incident, Carol." He informs her and knowing Carol as well as she did, Adele knew that she was wondering exactly what kind of incident this was and why the Gilbert twins we're involved. "I'm hoping you could help."

"Well, I'm on my way to a meeting, so I…" Carol falls silent, her face going blank as her eyes meet Elijah's and Adele wants to reach out and slap him on the back of the head but she figures that would be a stupid move.

"It won't take but a moment of your time." Carol looks to be having a small struggle like she's trying to fight off the compulsion but it doesn't last as she soon smiles.

"Of course, anything you need." She assures him stepping aside and letting them pass. Adele come in last and is not surprised when Carol pulls her back. "Have you heard from Tyler?"

Adele had been dreading this, she knew that in coming here Carol would ask her if she's heard from Tyler there for reminding her that she hasn't seen or heard from him since he left. Adele swallows back the lump forming in the back of her throat. "No. I'm sorry Carol, I haven't." Disappointment and a deep painful sadness flashes through the older woman's eyes before she quickly covers it up, Adele reaches out to squeeze her hand, she realizes that this is hard on her and she can only imagine how hard it is on Carol.

Finally Adele joins her sister and Elijah who haven't actually moved to far into the house. Elijah is the first to speak up. "First things first, I'm going to need a change of clothing."

"Well, we can try one of my husband's suits. I haven't boxed them up yet." At the mention of Richard Lockwood, Adele begins to feel worse. Not only had Carol lost her husband but her son has run away without so much as a goodbye to her and who knows when he's coming back.

"Wonderful." Elijah answers smoothly and Carol sends them all another smile before she takes off up the stairs. Elena turns to Elijah asking a question that Adele hadn't even thought about.

"How did you know she's not on vervain?"

"Because I'm the one who got her off it right before you and your friends killed me." What a way to make her feel even worse. This is officially a bad day in her mind. "Twice. If you'll excuse me, I'll be down in a moment." Elena looks over to her sister who just shakes her head and turns around to make her way into the living room to wait.

~x~

"So I assume that the Martin witches are no longer with us." Elijah says after sitting around for a few minutes with nothing being spoken. The Gilberts had no idea what to say, Elena wasn't even sure this plan would get this far.

"No." Elena shakes her head softly. "I'm sorry." Elijah's eyes fall on Adele who is sitting at the other end of the couch from her sister and she knows what he is waiting for but she can't give it to him.

"I'm not sorry." She says causing Elena to look at her, with wide brown eyes. "Jonas tried to kill me in what in my mind if the most awful way to die so I'm sorry that I'm not guilty in the least bit." She explains and though he doesn't say anything she knows he understands.

"And Katharina?" He goes on. "She would have been released from my compulsion when I died."

"Klaus took her." Adele informs, sitting up a little straighter.

"We think she may be dead." Elena adds.

"I doubt that. Not Klaus' style. Death would be too easy for her after what she did." Elijah's eyes are full of disgust.

"I don't understand. You say that you want Klaus dead, but you still made Katherine pay for betraying him." Adele looks from Elena and Elijah, she'd be lying if she said she hadn't noticed that as well.

"I have my own reasons for wanting Katarina to pay. There was a time... I'd have done anything for Klaus. Klaus…Klaus is my brother." Elena's back straightens as Adele's eyebrows raise. That…wasn't entirely shocking to her. Sure it was a little but she wasn't completely blown away by the news, not in the way her sister obviously is. "Klaus is my brother." Elijah repeats when neither of them says anything.

"I…I heard that. I'm still processing." Elena mutters.

Elijah picks up his tea and brings it closer to his lips. "Yes, I'm a little behind on the times but I believe the term you're searching for is 'O.M.G.'" He takes a sip of the tea. Not being able to help herself Adele burst into a fit of small giggles that has Elijah smirking in her direction. Though she's sure that wasn't meant to be funny, it was completely hilarious.

~x~

After controlling her laughter, Elijah is able to continue and he tells them about the fact that there is a whole family of original vampires. "There's a whole family of originals?" Elena asks, as if not wanting to believe it.

"My father was a wealthy land owner in a village in Eastern Europe. Our mother bore seven children." He explains to them briefly and Adele can feel her eyes widen. Seven children? Are you kidding me? Adele wasn't sure she'd ever be able to handle seven children. She admires the ones who can do it but she knows she can't. Her stopping point would be two, three max. At least that was her plan when she was convinced her and Michael would be together forever, now she wasn't even sure she would ever have kids not with the guys she was going for, which brings her to a different train of thought…

"So your parents we're human?" She asks.

"Our whole family was. Our origin as vampires is a very long story. Just know... We're the oldest vampires in the world. We are the Original family, and from us all vampires were created." Elijah explains.

"Right but Klaus is your brother and you want him dead?" Adele can see how that is where Elena gets a bit shaken. She can't see wanting any of her siblings dead. Not Elena and not Jeremy, for the love of everything good in the world, _not_ Jeremy.

"I need some air." Elijah says, completely ignoring the question. Adele rolls her eyes as he walks forward, pushing past Elena. "I'm still feeling a bit…dead." He remarks.

~x~

There walking across the Lockwood property. Where they are going Adele's not sure, she's just focused on keeping up with Elijah, who is walking faster than she is able to at the moment. "As you've seen nothing can kill an original. Not Sun, not fire, not even a werewolf bite. Only the wood from one tree. A tree my family made sure burned." He's telling them.

"That's where the white ash for the dagger comes from." Elena puts two and two together.

"Yes." Elijah answers. "The witches won't allow anything truly immortal to walk the earth. Every creature needs to have a weakness in order to maintain the balance."

"Okay, so if sun can't kill an Original, why is Klaus so obsessed with breaking the Sun and Moon curse?" Adele asks finally being able to match his long legged strides and be able to walk beside him instead of behind him.

"Right. The curse of the Sun and the Moon. It's all so... Biblical-sounding, don't you think?" He smiles a smile that makes no sense to Adele or Elena. They glance at each other as Elijah comes to a stop to face them.

"What's so funny?" Elena mutters. Elijah then jumps into explaining to them that Klaus is a very talented drawer and that the Aztec drawings was his finest piece of art. Elena frowns at this as Adele closes her eyes with a sigh.

"I don't understand." Elena says. "Klaus drew the Aztec sketches about the curse?"

"Roman scrolls, African tribal etchings, and any other culture or continent we felt like planting in it." Elijah answers.

"But why?"

"Easiest way to discover the existence of a doppelgänger or to get your hands on some long, lost moon stone is to have every single member of two warring species on the lookout." He explains to her, and while Elena remains slightly confused as she looks at her, Adele has already drawn the only conclusion there was.

"The curse isn't real." Adele tells her. Elena snaps her head back over to look at Elijah but he's already half way across the small bridge that goes over the small pond in the Lockwood yard.

"What?" She runs after him while Adele looks back towards the house. She just wants this day to be over.

~x~

"Klaus and I faked the sun in the moon curse dating back over a thousand years ago." A thousand years? Damn, he's old. Adele not sure she could ever live for a thousand years, seems way to boring to her.

"But if there's no curse…" Elijah cuts Elena off.

"There's a curse, just not that one. The real one's much worse. It's a curse placed on Klaus."

"What are you talking about?" Adele asks from walking behind Elena.

"Klaus has been trying to break it for the last thousand years. And Elena is his only hope." Elijah answers, though he didn't answer exactly what curse he's talking about. Elena's phone begins to vibrate in Elijah's jacket pocket.

"What is the curse?" Adele presses as Elena's phone continues to buzz. Elijah stops walking to turn and look at Elena.

"Your phone will not stop its incessant buzzing." He pulls the phone from his pocket and holds it out to her. "Answer it, please." Elena takes the phone with a sigh and answers it quickly. Adele runs a hand over her upper arm as she waits for her to be done and for Elijah to answer her question.

"Stefan…What's wrong?" Adele looks at her sister. "No. No, no, no, no." Elena turns around to meet her eyes and Adele frowns. "Okay. We'll be right there." She hangs up turning back to look at Elijah who is frowning at the both of them. "Klaus went after Jenna. We have to go to her." Adele's eyes widen. Oh great. Just what they needed at this moment in time, he couldn't have waited until she had told her what's going on?

"I'm afraid that wasn't part of today's arrangement." He argues and Adele shakes her head, peering over Elena's shoulder at him.

"She's family Elijah. We have to go." He looks at her, he looks like he wants to let them go, but isn't sure he can trust them to come back.

"We'll be back. You have our word." Elena tries and he gives them a sigh.

"That doesn't mean anything to me until you live up to it." Adele sends him a smile in thanks before turning around and taking off towards the house. She barely hears Elena give him a thank you before she's running after her.

~x~

Elena enters the library before Adele as she slows down to a stop outside of it. She can see Jenna sitting on the couch and Elena who stops when Jenna backs herself further into it not wanting Elena any closer. "I'm so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen."

"When I was little your mom used to tell me bedtime stories. Stories about vampires. I never thought that what she said could be true." Jenna's voice cracks with fresh tears.

"It is true, Jenna. I should have told you. I thought that if you didn't know, you'd be safe. But then things got so out of control and everything I had done to keep you out of it, it just blew up in my face." Adele enters the room slowly as Elena is talking.

"Who else knows? Jeremy?" Elena nods. "John?" Jenna's eyes move over Elena's shoulder to Adele. "You know?" Adele nods and Jenna cries harder.

"We we're trying to protect you." Elena says.

"Protect me?" Jenna exclaims.

"I was going to tell you." Both Elena and Jenna look at Adele as she stops beside Elena. "I was going to tell you everything. Ric and I decided it was time that you knew. We realized how much safer it would be if you knew. I just thought I had time. I had no idea this was going to happen."

"You should've just told me. I'm the one who's supposed to be protecting you."

"We know," Elena starts. "But there's nothing that you could've done. There's so much more to it…"

"No." Jenna snaps. "This is- this is so… I don't know how… it's…" She throws her head into her hands, her fingers tangling in her hair.

"I know…" Elena places a hand on her knee. "Hey." Jenna lifts her head and looks between her two nieces.

"I'm scared." She finally whispers and Elena moves over to her side, wrapping her arms around her. Adele crouches down in front of her and takes her hand softly in hers.

"We're so sorry Jenna." She whispers as Jenna bares her head in Elena's shoulder and squeezes Adele's hand.

~x~

Adele closes the library door softly behind her and Elena. That had to be one of the worst conversions she's had to have in her whole life. Stefan quits pacing and looks between the two of them as Elena walks up. "Is she going to be okay?"

"She's in shock." Elena answers quietly.

"We tried to tell her everything we could but we only scratched the surface." Adele explains.

"I'm so sorry." Stefan says, he looks so broken up about what had happened, Adele shakes her head at him, stopping next to Elena. "I hate this."

"It's not your fault Stefan." Adele sighs causing him to scoff. "It's ours." Stefan looks a little taken back by hearing her say that. He doesn't understand how any of this could be their fault. He's the one who stepped into their lives and brought them into his mess.

"Anyways…" He looks at Elena. "We have to go back…to Elijah."

"What? No." Stefan shakes his head.

"Stefan, we promised him that we would return. We can't break that promise." Stefan looks defeated, he must've realized that he needed to back off just a little because he nods, Adele pass by them as Elena mutter that they will be okay.

They are close to the door when Damon comes jogging around the corner with Andie close behind him and Adele stops short, cursing to herself as his eyes lock on her.

"Well look who it is, little miss I'm going to lie to Damon and put myself in danger…again." He snaps slowing to a walk. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Back to Elijah." Adele answers shortly, and moves to pass him. She's taken by surprise when he reaches out and grabs her upper arms in a vice like grip that's painful and is sure to leave bruises.

"If you so much as try and take a step out of this house..."

"Damon…" Andie cuts him off. "Easy."

"Stay out of this Andie." Damon snaps.

"Yeah, Andie. Stay out of it." Adele gives her a hard glare before it turns to Damon and hardens even more. "I will do what I want, when I want Damon. You should know that. Now let me go."

"I don't think so. I just got you back, you're not going anywhere."

"Let her go." Damon's eyes move over Adele and Elena to land on Stefan.

"Excuse me?" He growls out and Adele struggles to pull away from him. She jerks slightly when Stefan grabs Damon's forearm tightly.

"You heard me. Let her go." He growls back.

"That's twice today you've stood in my way." Adele isn't sure what that means but she doesn't want to stick around and find out. Damon is mad, mad at her, mad at him, mad at the freaking world for all she knows and she wants to be as far from him as possible when he's like this. "I wouldn't try a third."

He lets her go and she sighs in relief, reaching her hands up to rub the spots where he was holding. She glares at him. "That's going to bruise you asshole." She mutter pushing past him harshly, he staggers to the side clenching his jaw as he watches the twins disappear.

~x~

Elena is the first to walk into the house, Adele close behind her having slipped on her leather jacket on the way in, she was right about Damon leaving bruises, on each arm she had big angry red hand prints and she didn't find it a good idea to let Elijah see them.

He seems surprised but otherwise happy to see them as Adele closes the door behind her. He sends them both a smile while holding a glass of wine. "Welcome back."

"Tell me." Elena demands right away, slipping her arms out of her jacket as Adele makes herself comfortable in one of the arm chairs. "What is Klaus's curse?" Elijah mentions for Elena to sit down on the couch and she does after throwing her jacket onto the table.

"My family was quite close, but Klaus and my father did not get on too well. When we became vampires, we discovered the truth. Klaus was not my father's son. My mother had been unfaithful many years before. This was her darkest secret. Klaus is from a different bloodline. Of course, when my father discovered this, he hunted down and he killed my mother's lover and his entire family. Not realizing, of course, that he was igniting a war between species that rages until this day." Elijah explains to them, taking a sit next to Elena as he does before standing back up and returning to the same spot they found him in when they arrived back.

"A war between the species?" Adele speaks up sitting forward to rest her elbows on her knees, only to flinch slightly when the sleeves of her jacket tighten around the still forming bruises.

"The vampires…and the werewolves." Elijah answers causes Elena and Adele to glance at each other in confusion.

"So Klaus's real father was from a werewolf bloodline?" Elena looks back at Elijah. "What does that make Klaus?" She wonders out loud. "A vampire or a werewolf?"

"He's both." Adele's back straightens, her lips parting in an 'O' shape as she looks at her sister who looks back at her with startled brown eyes. That was about the worst thing they could hear at this moment.

"A hybrid would be deadlier than any werewolf or vampire. Nature would not stand for such an imbalance of power. Therefore the witches, the servants of nature, saw to it that my brother's werewolf side would become dormant." Elijah walks across the room to lean his shoulder against the doorway.

"That's the curse Klaus wants to break?" Adele is still in shock, her mind being too slow to comprehend what he's telling them.

"He wants to trigger that part of him that's a werewolf. If allowed, Klaus would sire his own bloodline. He'd build his own race, endangering not just vampires, but everyone." Elena stands up as Adele runs a hand through her tangled hair. Oh god. This just gets worse and worse.

"But you helped him?" Elena steps towards the original, her eyes narrowed.

"I helped him because I loved him. That's changed, now he must die." Elijah retorts quickly.

"We have the dagger now." Adele stands up. "We can stop him."

"When a werewolf is wounded by silver, it heals. An Original can't be killed by anything but white oak ash on a silver dagger. So you see the conundrum. The dagger does not work."

"What are you saying?" Adele crosses her arms in frustration. "Klaus can't be killed?"

"There's one way to kill any supernatural species… at the hands of the servants of nature themselves."

"A witch, if they can channel that much power." Elena points out. "But it would kill them."

"The curse must be broken during the full moon, when Klaus is in transition. That's when he'll be at his most vulnerable. A witch with enough power... can kill Klaus." Elijah looks between them as the sisters look at each other before Adele can stop her, Elena speaks up.

"What if I told you that I knew a witch that could channel that much power?"

"Then I would tell you there's one more thing that you should know." Elijah then explains to them how he had talked to the witches before the sacrifice was to happen and was able to get them to find a way to spare the Doppelgangers life. Adele rushes forward at this.

"You found a way to save the life of the doppelganger?" She breathes and he nods slightly.

"Yes, I did. But unfortunately, Katarina took matters into her own hands first." He walks over to the coffee table to pick up Elena's jacket before bringing it back over to her and holding it up. "I believe you already know how that played out."

Adele can't help but put the pieces together. "You cared about her. Didn't you?" She whispers softly. Elijah looks at her.

"It's a common mistake I'm told. One I won't make again." Elena takes the jacket from him before they both watch him leave knowing that he wants them to follow. Adele sighs, biting her lip. Why do all the good ones seem to fall for this one evil bitch? Man what she wouldn't do to be able to stake her herself.

~x~

Stefan walks into the room in time to see Damon kicking Andie out after she had handed him a glass of bourbon and tried to get through to him. "Tired of your little play thing already?" He teases.

"Don't start with me, Stefan." Damon groans, he was already in a bad enough mood. "She's just my distraction."

"She's a person. You're victimizing her." Stefan moves to leave but Damon stands up.

"I know you hate that I love Adele, so you know you should be thankful she's here." He snaps and Stefan stops walking to turn around and look at his brother.

"You're right I do hate it but you can be in love with Adele all you want to if it means that you'll protect her and Elena, but there is one thing I know as well as you do…"

"Yeah, what's that?" Damon mutters through clenched teeth.

"She's too good for you." Damon punches him, so hard he flies back into the bookshelf and it breaks apart. Stefan jumps up and run at Damon and they catch each other by the shoulders making it impossible for either to gain the upper hand.

"Stop!" The voice carries through the room as if it came from a speaker. Damon and Stefan break apart automatically looking back to see Adele glaring at them from the railing, her hands placed firmly against it and Elena standing behind her with Elijah looking between the two of them.

"What the hell is going on?" She snaps.

"Now you've invited him in?" Damon asks completely ignoring her question.

"Elijah and I have renewed the terms of our deal." Elena speaks up walking forward to stand beside her sister.

"Really?" Damon asks making it sound like he thought this was all just one big joke.

"The two of you will come to no harm at the terms of our deal. I only ask for one thing in return." Elijah says moving forward.

"What?" Damon asks.

"An apology." He answers and Stefan's eyebrows raise as Damon leans forward.

"A what?" He asks as if confused and Adele rolls her eyes. Stefan looks between everyone in the room before stepping forward and around pieces of smashed bookshelf. It looks to Adele that Stefan was going to be the bigger man here.

"I'm sorry for the part that I played in your death. I was protecting Elena. I will always protect Elena." He says and Elijah sends him a nod.

"I understand."

"The sacrifice is going to happen, Damon. Bonnie will be able to kill Klaus without hurting herself and Elijah knows how to save my life. I told you I'd find another way. And I did." Elena says to a sour looking Damon. He doesn't know whether to storm off or attack Elijah.

"Is that true?"

"It is." Elijah answers.

He finally meets Adele's eyes and she straightens her shoulders. "And you're trusting him?" He sounds slightly betrayed. Up until now Damon and her have been on the same page completely and now she was turning away from him, he doesn't know what to think. At the moment, it all just hurts.

"Yes." She whispers.

"You can all go to hell." His eyes never leave hers as he says it and she closes her eyes, letting out a harsh breath. She feels strangely like she's been punched in the gut as he finally storms off. She has no intentions of following him, knowing how he is she knew he'd need some time to cool off.

~x~

Her last punch hits harder than she meant it to causing Justin to stagger back with groan. She reaches up to cover to mouth with her hands. "Oh my god. Justin I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. It's okay. I've had worse." He groans out rubbing the side of his head with a taped hand. "What is up with you tonight? This is the fourth punch that is going to leave a mark, not to mention the countless kicks to the gut I've taken."

"I'm sorry, today just hasn't been my day. Damon is seriously mad at me. He thinks I turned on him." She huffs, grabbing her water bottle from the side and smiling at Jasmine who hands her a towel. Adele had picked her up on the way, figuring this way they could talk more.

"I'm sure it's not that bad." Justin laughs and Adele raises an eyebrow at him.

"He told me to go to hell. I mean he told us all to go to hell but he was looking at me. He told _me_ to go to hell."

"Wow, what did you do?" Jasmine asks from sitting on the grass.

"Elena and I woke up Elijah and made a deal with him." Justin freezes in grabbing his own water and turns to look at Adele. He unscrews the top of his bottle and chugs half of it before reclosing it and throwing it to the side once again.

"Well then I completely understand why he's mad. Are you kidding me Adele? The guy is an original. He's one of the most dangerous men in the whole world, far more dangerous than one man should be." Jasmine stays silent watching the exchange between them.

"But he's not the most dangerous Justin. He's not half as dangerous as Klaus." Adele throws her water to the side as well, after taking a long sip from it.

"Elijah's older." Justin points out.

"But Klaus isn't just a vampire." Justin tilts his head, narrowing his eyes at her.

"What?" Jasmine squeaks.

"He's not just a vampire. Elijah and Klaus don't have the same father. Klaus's father was from a werewolf bloodline. He's both vampire and werewolf."

Justin takes a wide step back, looking pale and slightly sick. "Is that even possible?" He gets out.

"Apparently so. The curse of the sun and the moon doesn't exist at all. Klaus made it up thousands of years ago to have every species on the lookout for a doppelganger and a moonstone. The real curse was placed on Klaus, basically the witches made it impossible for him to wolf out and he wants the option to do that back. There's more to this that I'm just a little too depressed about to tell at the moment."

"What are you guys going to do?" Jasmine asks standing up from her place on the grass and brushing off her legs.

"We're going to stop him. Bonnie is going to take him out while he's in transition."

"Doesn't that mean…" Justin trails off.

"That the sacrifice has to happen? Yes." She doesn't sound exactly thrilled about this, as Jasmine notices. "But Elijah says he has a way to bring her back. We're _trusting_ him." A muscle in her jaw jumps and her eyes darken. She's not in the least bit happy with this plan.

Justin looks about to say something before something catches his attention and he freezes, becoming as still has a statue. Adele and Jasmine glance at each other. Adele walks forward, towards him. It doesn't even look like he's breathing. She's about to reach out and touch him when suddenly he turns, whipping around and shooting out his hand. Adele hears a click and then a rush of wind before a short scream of pain off in the distance.

"Justin! What was that?" Adele demands, watching as Justin pulls up the sleeve to his work out shirt to unstrap the stake shooter from his forearm, he throws it to the side before reaching down into his gym bag silently and pulling out a stake.

"Vampire." He mutters walking forward. Adele glances at Jasmine before jogging forward to catch up with him. There nearing the woods, Adele can hear the sound of groaning and cursing. Justin seems to hear it to because the determined expression turns into one of annoyance in a matter of seconds.

"Nate!" Justin snaps, coming to a stop over the crumbled figure. "What are you doing here?"

"Getting shot apparently." Adele raises an eyebrow. Okay so, this was an Australian vampire that Justin knows?

"I had every right to shoot you. You know not to sneak up on me like that." Justin shoves the stake into the waistband on his pants before reaching down and yanking the stake sticking out of Nate's shoulder out. Nate lets out a roar of pain.

"How was I supposed to know that you would shoot me?" Nate pushes himself to his feet, brushing off his jeans and straightening out his bloody t-shirt.

"You're a vampire, I'm a vampire hunter my natural instinct is to kill you." Justin points out to him.

"We should really work on changing that, I am after all your best friend. I don't know what kind of relationship we could have if you keep trying to kill me." Nate's eyes roam over Justin before moving onto Jasmine and then Adele. "Well, look at this, Justin has finally found some very beautiful girls to hang out with. Surprise, surprise." Justin rolls his eyes at him.

"Nate, this is Jasmine Reed." He mentions to Jasmine before turning to Adele. "And this is Adele Gilbert." Nate's deep brown eyes widen to twice there normal size as he stares at Adele. Slowly his head turns to look at Justin.

"Adele Gilbert? Are you fucking insane? This is what you've been doing? Making friends with the girl James wants more anything in the world?" Justin shoves his hands into his pockets.

"He's not going to get her. I'm personally making sure of it." Justin says quietly.

"Oh my god, you're going behind his back. He'll kill you if he finds out."

"I know." Justin whispers.

"No." Nate breathes. "I don't think you do. It won't matter that you're the best hunter he's ever had, it won't matter that you're his nephew. He will kill you, personally." He sends another glance in Adele's direction. "Is she really worth it?"

Justin glances back at Adele, who is watching them intensely while gripping tightly to Jasmine's hand. He looks back at Nate. "Yes. Saving her is worth the risk because if I can save her, I can take him down."

Nate glances back at Adele before nodding slowly. "Then you have my full support brother but if you die on me, I will never forgive you." He holds out his hand and Justin smiles softly before taking it. "This is going to be a long and painful road ahead of you though." Nate warns and Justin nods.

"I know."

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, okay. I know what you're probably thinking. Who the hell is Nate and where the hell did he come from? Nate is an OC I came up with for the squeal but I felt that it might serve best if I introduce him now. I'm not sure how much he'll be in the story these next three chapters because like I said, he's a character I came up with for the squeal and he'll play a huge part come that time. Just letting you know. <strong>

**Anyways, please review. You're reviews keep me going. (:**


	35. Chapter 35

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 35: The Last Day<strong>

He stares up at the ceiling, listening to the sounds of the shower in the bathroom. The sound had woken him up, not that he was sleeping very hard anyways, after the events of last night he found it hard to actually fall asleep let alone stay asleep. Guilt was flooding through him all night, from attacking Andie to hurting Adele. It was almost unreal to think he could ever hurt Adele even by doing something as simple as grabbing her to hard.

The shower shuts off; he can hear the sounds of the glass door being opened and the footsteps leading towards the sink. At first he had thought it was Andie, he thought that maybe she came back after he told her to go for the 2nd time but realized that no, he was going to need to do some damage control to get her back, she was probably terrified of him right now which then only left one person, someone who could never be terrified of him, someone who could only get completely pissed off at him.

His eyes fall to her as she emerges from the steam, wrapped only in a small white cotton towel. Her blonde hair is pulled to the side darkened by the water and her skin is damp making it glisten in the dim lighting. He knows that she knows he watching her but she ignores him choosing to be civil at least in the terms of Adele because he knows that her not acknowledging him is a lot more civil then if she choose to say something, because whatever she would have to say would be anything but civil.

She's searching for something to wear in the closet and his eyes fall to the fully formed bruises on her upper arms, they have to be 20 different shades of purple with a little bit of black and yellow mixed in there as well. God, had he really grabbed her that hard? He didn't even realize he was doing it. He had walked into the house closely followed by Andie, heard her voice and his mind went blank. When he had rounded the corner at a dead set jog, his intentions we're to make sure she was okay but when he had actually seen her every part of him filled with an unbelievable rage that wasn't completely directed at her but she had been there in front of him and was there for on the receiving end of it.

He wants to apologize, he wants to get up and go over to her, to wrap her in his arms and tell her he's so fucking sorry but he doesn't because pride is a tricky, tricky thing.

She turns having decided on something to wear and moves to the dresser pulling it open and searching through its contents and as she had been walking over there he had noticed something was missing. She wasn't wearing the locket.

"Where's your locket?" He pushes himself up to lean back against the pillows and headboard. Her head turns to make it possible for her sharp blue eyes to look at him.

"In the bathroom." She mutters, any normal person would've had trouble hearing her but he picked up on her answer perfectly.

"Why is it there and not around your neck?" He tries to keep the sharpness out of his voice but it was damn near impossible. He knows that she's mad at him but that gives her no reason to leave herself unprotected.

"Because I took a shower Damon, I take it off when I take a shower; I don't want to ruin it." He doesn't need to see her expression to know how annoyed she is, it's laced in every word she speaks.

"Just make sure you put it back on, you're going to need it if you're planning on chilling with originals now." He knows all he's doing is provoking her temper but honestly he couldn't help it, he felt bitter knowing she was so okay with going behind his back the way she did.

"Are you kidding me?" She snaps slamming the drawer shut. She turns around and rushes back into the bathroom disappearing from his sight. "It's not like it was easy for me to do what I did yesterday." She calls out.

"Oh yeah, it looked like it was real hard on you, you looked so _torn_." Something slams in the bathroom, a hairbrush maybe?

"I didn't go along with her plans yesterday to backstab you Damon! This isn't about you, it's about Elena! I did it for her! I was just trying to make sure she didn't do anything like turn herself over to Klaus! She would have you know? If we just went with Bonnie as our plan, she would've turned herself over before letting that happen! I'm just trying to save my sister!"

"You could've come to me! We could've figured it out together, you didn't have to go completely behind my back and put yourself in that kind of position!" She reappears wearing a pair of light blue jeans that look like a second skin matched with a black loose fitting t-shirt and a pair of heels. The locket was back around her neck and her hair was pulled into a braid lying against her shoulder. He expected her to be mad, her blue eyes to dance like they we're on fire, the all-consuming black tint to be appearing around the edges but he's surprised to find that she just looks tired, warn and sad. Her eyes which are usually a light with emotion are dull.

"I don't know what to say to make you understand Damon." She says her voice unusually light. She moves back over to the dresser, picking up her body spray. "I'm just trying to save my sister. I don't know if you've noticed but I don't have much family but I'd really like to keep the family that I do have." She sprays the body spray around her before putting it up and grabbing her phone from next to it before opening the drawer back up and picking something out. She shoves the thing into the waistband of her jeans, all he saw was a flash of black but it didn't take a rocket scientist to know what it was. She leaves the room, leaving him to his own thoughts.

~x~

She joins her sister, Stefan and Elijah in the living room, they've been waiting for her and she can take a wild guess and say that Stefan and Elijah heard her little…conversion with Damon but neither one of them is going to acknowledge the fact as she takes a seat next to Elena on the couch and looks to Elijah, ready for him to start talking. "Tonight is a full moon; we should assume that Klaus is prepared to break the curse."

"Elena said that the sun and the moon curse is fake, that it's actually just a curse placed on Klaus." Says Stefan, trying to understand exactly what's going on.

"Klaus is a vampire born of a werewolf blood line. The curse has kept his werewolf aspect from manifesting but if he breaks it…he'll be a true hybrid." Elijah briefly explains, Adele's eyes move over him to watch Damon enter the room. "Then why are we letting him break the curse?" His eyes meet hers but she quickly looks away. "We can kill him today, with Bonnie."

"Damon…" Stefan's tone is one of warning.

"No. Bonnie can't use that much power without dying." Elena speaks up and Adele chooses to stay quiet, feeling she said all she had to say to him upstairs.

"I'll write her a great eulogy." He remarks.

"It's not an option Damon." Elena snaps back, having had enough of his attitude towards the whole thing. He agreed that they would do it her way, he shouldn't be able to take that back now that he decided he didn't like her way.

"Alright," Adele looks back over, her eyes moving over Damon to look at Elijah. "How do you break the curse?"

"Well," Elijah starts. "The ritual itself is relatively straightforward. The ingredients, so to speak, you already know."

"The moonstone." Adele sighs.

"A witch will channel the power of the full moon to release the spell that's bound within the stone. After that, Klaus, being both werewolf and vampire, will sacrifice one of each." Elijah explains and Adele has the briefest thought about Tyler. For the first time since he left, she's glad he's not here.

"And where do I fit into it?" Elena asks sitting forward.

"The final part of the ritual." He takes a wooden box from the bookshelf closest to him, placing it on the back of the armchair across from Stefan with a coy smirk. "Klaus must drink the blood of the doppelgänger...To the point of your death." Adele's eyes close and she takes a deep breath that does nothing to help calm the raging emotions battling inside her.

"And that's where you come in." She opens her eyes to watch Elijah at her sister's words. They all watch carefully as he flips the box open and takes from it a crystal bottle. "This is an elixir that I acquired some 500 years ago for Katarina. It possesses mystical properties of resuscitation." He holds it up for all of them to see and for a moment Adele feels like this is some twisted version of show and tell.

"So I'll be dead," It's not a question as much as it is a statement from Elena.

"And then you won't." Elijah confirms. Elena looks pleased; she looks on in wonder while Stefan and Adele stare on with doubts. Damon just looks downright displeased, like this was still one big joke.

"That's your plan? A magical witch potion with no expiration date?" He looks away from Elijah to look at Elena. "You want to come back to life? What about John's ring?" Elena looks ready to say something but doesn't when she realizes she has nothing to say, in realty she actually hadn't thought of that.

"Those rings only work on humans. The doppelgänger's a supernatural occurrence. Odds are the ring won't work." Elijah points out.

"I'll take those odds over your elixir." He shoots the older vampire a glare before returning his gaze to the brunette. "What if it doesn't work, Elena?"

"Then I guess I'll just be dead." Damon looks to Stefan because there's no way his brother could just sit there and accept that but when all he does is shrug, Damon is forced to turn to Adele. She's not looking at him, in fact she's not looking at anyone; her eyes are trained on something off to the side as she sits there with her arms crossed over her chest. Her form is tense and he's begging her to look at him, to see the pleading look in his eyes for her not to go along with this but she just won't look at him so he turns away from her, back to Elijah before just walking out. At this point, it's all he can do.

"Do we know if Klaus has everything he needs to do this?" Her voice carries to him, causing him to stop, it was stiff, a mask of no emotion, this whole situation was killing her inside. "Does he have a werewolf?" He listens for Elijah's answer.

"Klaus has been waiting to break this curse for over a thousand years. If he doesn't already have a werewolf, my guess is by tonight, he will."

~x~

"I'll be there soon. I just need to finish up a couple things here and I'll be on my way." She's on the phone with Jasmine agreeing to meet up for breakfast to finally talk. With everything going on, talking has been difficult and there was a lot they needed to talk about.

"Okay, just make sure you…" A door slams causing Adele to look over, Jasmine is still talking but Adele isn't paying attention as she moves towards the front door. Upon turning the corner, she's not sure what to think of the sight she's met with. "Jazzy…I'll meet you soon but right now…I got to go." She hangs up before the young girl can protest and shoves the phone into her back pocket.

Alaric (or Klaus is it?) is standing by the closed front door, his hands in the air as Jenna holds a cross bow to him yelling for him to get out. "Jenna! Jenna, put the cross bow down, it's me."

"Is it?" Jenna takes her eyes from Alaric long enough to look over at her niece who comes over to her, taking the bow from her hands. Jenna lets it go, her hands we're shaking so bad she figures she wouldn't be able to shoot straight anyways.

"Yes…Adele…" He's slowly lowering his hands, before they fly back up as the cross bow is thrown to the side only to be replaced by Adele's gun. Adele holds him at gun point, her hands as steady as ever as she eyes him unlike Jenna's when she held the cross bow, she steps ahead of Jenna, making it so the woman is slightly behind her. His eyes fall to the barrel of the gun, it isn't the first time it's been directed at him but it is the first time that it's actually meant to be. He's not sure how good of a shot she is but considering she still carries it, he has to think she's not that bad. "Adele…" He breaths out, he can't blame her for not believing him.

Adele doesn't even blink as Elena, Stefan and Damon come running up behind her and Jenna, her focus is on him, she's ready to shoot if she finds the sudden need to. "What's going on?" Elena calls, eyeing Alaric and the gun in Adele's hand.

"It's me, Elena, I swear, ok? He let me go. Klaus let me go." Alaric is practically begging her to believe him; he just needs someone to believe him.

"Prove it." Damon calls.

"Okay," He turns his attention back to Jenna. "Uh, first night you and I spent together, Jeremy walked in right when I was about to..."

"Okay!" Jenna cuts him off, eyes widening as she reaches out to lower the gun in Adele's hands. "It's him." Adele lowers the gun completely, dropping it to her side as she glances between her aunt and Alaric with narrowed eyes.

"Why did he let you go?" Stefan speaks up.

"He wanted me to deliver a message. The sacrifice happens tonight."

~x~

"So you don't remember anything that happened?" Stefan paces in front of Alaric, who sat in front of them all, he's guessing it has something to do with them wanting to be able to keep an eye on him and he once again can't blame any of them.

"No. It's like I blacked out and woke up 3 days later." He explains glancing between them all. Elena sat in a chair off to the side, Elijah standing next to it as Adele leans against the window frame her eyes focused on something outside. He's not sure what's going through her head, but he knows though it wasn't his fault, damage control was called for when it came to the blonde. As tough as her façade is, in realty he can see how vulnerable the young girl is when it comes to being hurt by those she knows and loves and there's nothing that could've been worse than having to watch him try and kill someone she cares about. He needed to jump at that damage control as soon as possible, if there was anyone he needed on his side the most it was the girl he thought of like a daughter. She meant more to him then almost everyone in this room with the exception being Jenna.

"Katherine was there." He announces in a way to distract himself from his thoughts.

"She's under compulsion." Stefan tells him. "Damon snuck her some vervain, but she can't leave until Klaus tells her she can."

"If he ever does." Adele mutters loud enough for them all to hear as she turns her gaze to him. Nobody responds to that, they know it to be true. There was a big if in whether or not Klaus was even planning on letting the vampire go.

"Where's Damon?" Elena speaks up; having looked around to notice the elder Salvatore was gone not that it surprised her. His strained relationship with her sister was making it hard for them to stand in a room together. Elena looks to Adele, figuring that she might know.

"I saw him go upstairs." It isn't Adele who answers but Jenna who is sitting on the couch directly across from Alaric. Elena pushes herself up, dismissing herself quietly before disappearing; Adele watches her go. Before she can talk herself out of it, she's following behind her but at a distance; she didn't want her to know she's there. She wanted to hear what her sister had to say to him, call it nosy whatever, she wanted to know and she damn sure wasn't going to ask.

She stops outside his open bedroom door as Elena enters saying something about how he disappeared. She presses herself against the wall listening closely. "I don't want to hear anymore." Is his response to her.

"You need to understand why I'm doing this." Elena says. Adele can hear her moving further into the room.

"Why? It clearly doesn't matter what I think." His tone is bitter, his movements tense with anger as he turns away from the window to look at the young brunette. "I'll be fine, Damon. I'll drink the elixir, Bonnie will kill Klaus and then all of this will finally be over." Elena tries to reason, he was being extremely hostile about this and she just didn't understand why.

"If it works." He snaps.

"It will work."

"You think it will work." He's had enough of this back and forth; he needed her to understand that this wasn't the way to go. "You want it to work. Why am I the only one who's convinced it won't? There has to be another way."

"There isn't." She assures him.

"You're going to die Elena." He tells her, he knows Adele is standing just outside the room, he could hear the steady rhythm of her heart from where she stood and he can hear the skip when he mentions Elena's death. "And then I'll come back to life." Elena says, a slight smile crossing her features.

"That's not a risk I'm willing to let Adele take." So that's what this was about, she should've realized that Damon would do anything to protect her sister and that meant protecting her and if she was to die, he wouldn't be doing his job.

"But I am and Adele is willing to let me." She grabs his fisted hand, willing him to understand, she wants him to be okay with this for her but she needs him to be okay for Adele's sake. She's never seen her sister as miserable as when in a fight with Damon. "It's my life Damon, my choice. She understands that."

"She can't lose you…" He swallows, his eyes searching her face. "I…can't lose you." He attempts, in all the time he's spend with Elena, she's become something more to him then just his brothers girlfriend. Her eyes soften, her hand squeezing his. "You won't." She assures.

Adele can hear her coming closer, moving towards the door and she takes a deep breath deciding to wait there until her sister rounded the corner, only she doesn't. There's a rush of wind in the room. "There's another way." Adele frowns, what in the hell did that mean?

"What are you…Damon, no!" Adele pushes herself off the wall and rounds the corner into the room where horror is the only thing she feels at the sight that she's met with. Damon has his bleeding wrist pressed against Elena's mouth, holding the back of her neck making it impossible for her to pull away.

"Damon!" Adele yells rushing forward and grabbing his arm. "Damon, stop!" He ignores her and she pulls only he doesn't move. She steps back, letting Stefan throw him off, Elena falls to the floor, Adele dropping to a knee behind her. "What did you do? Huh? What did you do?" Stefan roars, moving over to cheek on Elena.

"I saved her life." Damon growls out, looking towards Elena, Adele is behind her, pushing hair from her face and trying to wipe as much of the blood from around her mouth as possible. "You're so bent on dying at least this way I know you'll come back." Adele's blue eyes lift, glaring at him and he feels the full force of the look but does his utter best to ignore it.

"As a vampire…" Stefan points out pushing up from the ground to face Damon. "She'll come back as a vampire."

"It's better than nothing else."

"How could you of all people take that choice away from her?" Elena lets out a small struggled cry, making Stefan and Damon turn back.

"Go ahead…" Damon starts. "Wish me an entirety of misery, believe me…you'll get over it." Stefan growls, running at Damon, he pushes him across the chest Damon had been pushed into before; he knocks into the floor lamp, making it fall the wooden post breaking in two.

"Stefan!" Elena calls as Damon jumps up, coming back at Stefan to pin him to the wall with a piece of the broken lamp post. "Admit it, you just wish you had the balls to do it yourself." Damon spits and Stefan yells in frustration, using leverage from the post to smack him across the face, making him break his hold on him. Damon comes at him, but he's able to get a good solid punch in, that turns into multiple. Damon falls to his knees and Stefan moves in on him. Adele yells but it's too late, Damon grabs a hold of the broken lamp post and shoves it through Stefan's gut.

Elena falls forward, catching Stefan as he falls to his knees. Damon lets go, letting himself fall back and away from his brother and Elena. Elena turns around to glare at him, her eyes filled with unshed tears. "Get out of here!" She snaps but all he does is stare at his brother.

Alaric and Jenna enter the room, Alaric asking what's going on before taking in the scene around him. "Get him out of here!" Elena yells, Alaric moves around them to grab the vampire but he yanks his arm away causing Alaric to stand back, his hands help up in surrender. Adele hears her aunt muttering something but ignores it as she moves forward, grabbing Damon by the front of his shirt and pulling him to his feet. "Let's go." She mutters and he lets her pull him from the room.

When there down the hall close to the stairs Adele pushes him with as much strength as she can master up and he stumbles forward, turning back to look at her with wide eyes. "How could you?" She snaps, a tear rolling down one of her flushed cheeks and he has a feeling that the tears we're more on the angry side.

"It needed to be done!" Neither of them acknowledges Jenna running by them to get to the stairs. "At least now we know she'll come back, that she won't just be dead!"

"Not like this Damon! She didn't want to come back like this!" Adele pushes at him again. He doesn't stop her.

"I saved her life." His voice is lower, his eyes are hard.

"You ruined her life! That wasn't your choice to make for her; if she wanted to be a vampire she would've suggested it herself!" She moves to push him again but this time he catches her, pulling her into him. She fights him, punching and pushing but he holds steady. She stops fighting, her body melting into his long enough for him to mutter an "I'm sorry" before she's pushing again and this time she succeeds in getting away from him.

"Sorry just isn't enough anymore. You've done so many things Damon, but this….this is the worst thing you've ever done. I just…I hate you so much right now." She turns, rushing down the stairs, pushing past her aunt who is returning with a couple of blood bags from the basement. Jenna stops to look after her listening to the sound of her heels disappearing and then the front door slamming before looking back up to see Damon, staring blankly after her.

~x~

_I hate you so much right now. I hate you. Hate. _God he's such an idiot. She was right, he's done a lot of horrible things but doing that to her, doing that to Elena was so beyond horrible that there should be a new word invited for it.

He makes his way into the study, after hearing the door slam he realized that she had left and he wouldn't be surprised if she didn't come back. He decided that a drink was needed and there for made a quick b-line for the study. He ignores the original packing up his crystal bottle.

"Well, it sounds like you won't be needing this anymore. Feeding her vampire blood rendered it useless." He closes the wooden box, picking it up and turning to the younger vampire. "Tell Elena I'll be back before nightfall. We'll proceed as planned." He then makes his way towards the door; he had some preparing to do before the end of the night.

"We both know that elixir wouldn't have worked anyway." Damon pours him a half glass of bourbon and downs it in one shot. His comment causes Elijah to turn back around.

"The problem, Damon, you talk a good game but you don't actually know anything." He says moving to stand behind the man who's back remands turned. "She'll never forgive you. And never for a vampire...It's a very long time." This time he leaves, leaving Damon staring after him because he knows that it isn't Elena that he's talking about.

~x~

Jasmine hands her a glass of water, watching as her blonde friend stared blankly at the T.V. Adele showed up 5 minutes ago and she hadn't been expecting to see her so torn up when she walked in. Something happened, but Jasmine isn't sure exactly what, all she knows is that it has something to do with Damon, there's no other way Adele could look this torn up if it wasn't.

She sits down next to her, watching as Willy lays his head in Adele's lap staring up at her with his wide brown eyes. Jasmine wonders if she's going to say something or if she's just going to sit there.

Adele places the glass on the coffee table before she turns her head to look at Jasmine, since she's been here her eyes have dried but there tinted in red. "He's such an asshole." Adele whispers and Jasmine just knew this was about Damon. "I swear he doesn't think before he does anything, I swear he just gets an idea and doesn't stop to think about the outcome, about whose live he's playing with, he does things and he doesn't care who it hurts. He's such a fucking asshole and I want to hate him so much for it…" Adele trails off leaving Jasmine to put together what she's trying to say.

"But you don't…" She whispers back and Adele shakes her head, letting it fall into her hands which are resting on her knees. "It's okay Adele…"

"No it's not!" She snaps, picking her head back up. "What he does is not okay. How can everyone else find it so easy to hate him but I can't?"

"Because…they don't love him the way you do." Adele stares at her, her darkened blue eyes unblinking. Jasmine doesn't think anyone has ever confronted her about loving him. Jasmine knows that Adele knows she loves him but she knows she's not going to admit it in fear of losing him but nobody has ever confronted her. Adele swallows and turns away.

"I've been having this dream…" Jasmine blinks, what a way of changing the subject. "I can't sleep because of it."

"What is it?"

"When it starts…I'm with Tony on Fort Desoto, we're watching the mothers playing with their kids. He tells me he loves me and then pulls me to my feet and I close my eyes. Only when I open them, I'm with Damon. We're dancing and he's telling me to leave with him, asking me where I want to go. I tell him Rome and he tells me that's where we'll go because he'd do anything for me, because he loves me. I close my eyes again and when I open them, I'm standing in town square. Tony calls my name and when I turn around, he's standing by the street, he's hurt…bleeding and he's not healing. I move to go to him…but I hear a sound and turn the other direction. It's Damon; he's on his knees holding his hands to his stomach. He calls out my name and I stop. I have no idea what to do, somehow I know there both dying and I can save one of them…but I can't save both."

Jasmine sighs, of course. It might seem like Adele had moved on, but deep down she still loves Tony. That's never going to change; she just needs to decide who she loves more. "It seems to me like your subconscious is telling you to choose." Adele's wide eyes well up with tears once again, her features twisting in disbelief.

"I can't do that." She whispers, her voice broken. Jasmine smiles sadly at her friend, it doesn't matter that Adele thinks she can't, she already has. Jasmine knows, now all she has to do is wait for Adele to realize it herself.

~x~

Her phone rings and she opens her eyes to look at it sitting on the coffee table. "Are you going to answer it?" She glances at Jasmine before nodding and picking it up. She half expected it to be Damon but was relieved that it wasn't.

"Justin, hey…"

"I did something…" Adele frowns, taking another look at Jasmine who is watching her closely. "Something…something I don't think was a very good idea."

"What did you do?" She mutters sitting up straight. Something in his voice was causing shivers to run down her spine.

"I panicked Adele. James called, he's two towns over. He's getting ready for something…I know it and when the hunter showed up…" Adele stands up, grabbing her shoes and her keys. "Justin, stop okay? Tell me where you are."

"I'm at my motel." She hangs up shoving her feet into her shoes.

"Where are you going?" Jasmine calls standing up as well.

"Justin is freaking out; I have to go see what's going on." She explains briefly.

"Do you need me to come with you?"

"No. Michael will be back soon, just stay here and be with him. I'll call you if I need you." With that she's gone and Jasmine yanks open the door to watch as she races down the hall to the stairs.

~x~

She pulls up beside his truck; Nate leans casually against it, his tall frame relaxed as sips from a Wendy's cup. As she opens the door and steps out, he greets her with a tilt of the cup and she throws her arms out. "What's going on?" She demands rounding the truck to stand in front of him. He seems extremely amused about something.

"Nothing good, I'll assure you of that Love." He answers taking a long sip from the cup and she rolls her eyes at him. "I understood that much from the call, I want to know what happened!" She snaps at him and it's his turn to roll his eyes.

"I'll tell you what happened; he turned on his life. He got caught in that beautiful blue eyed stare and completely abandoned his oath to James, that's what happened." The vampire retorts making Adele want to slap the taste out of his mouth and it's not beyond her to try but she holds back. "You're a vampire; he's a vampire hunter why are you gunning for him being a part of what James is doing?"

"Because he's like my brother and I know as long as he's doing his job, doing what James tells him, he'll stay alive. Now that he's turned against James, there's no saying if he's going to live to see tomorrow." Adele stares at him, his deep almost black eyes daring her to challenge him and she scoffs. If he thinks he is going to scare her, he's got another thing coming.

"I'll just find out for myself and you can stand out here and continue being useless." She snaps, turning on her heel to rush into his motel room but Nate stops her by reaching out and grabbing her arm and pulling her back gently.

"You don't want to do that love, believe me, you need to be prepared." Nate lets her go to continue his leaning against the truck.

"He isn't hurt is he?" Her heart jumps into her throat, she's not sure what'd she'd do if he was hurt. She told him not to do this for her but he didn't listen.

"No, he's not…yet." She crosses her arms, she sick of this game. "James called him telling him that he was two towns over, waiting for the right moment. He said he was sending a guy out to scope the area. When Justin got off the phone he freaked. He has next to nothing figured out and all the sudden the guy is going to show up with his master plan…one of the other recruits showed up at the motel wanting Justin's research on you. I was hiding in the bathroom when I got the text. Justin wanted me to attack the guy, not kill him but leave him temporally out of business so to speak." Nate pushes off the Truck, shoving a hand into his jean pocket as he makes his way towards the motel room.

"Did you do it?" Adele asks as they reach the room and he turns back raising an eyebrow before sliding a keycard into the slot and twisting the door handle. "What do you think?" He asks swinging the door open and Adele's mouth opens at the sight of the hunter tied to one of the table chairs in the center of the room. He's knocked out, his chin hanging on his chest.

Justin peeks out of the bathroom, relived to see it's only her. "I told you it was bad."

"Why?" Is the only word she feels she can get out at this moment.

"He thinks we're on the right path here." Nate speaks up, folding his 6'4 frame into the other table chair flipping out a pocket knife. "Oh please, do tell." Adele remarks placing her hands on her thin hips.

"I'm going to hide, than you and Nate are going to try and get information from him." Justin explains and Adele's mouth opens to say something before closing and turning to look at Nate who shrugs a shoulder flipping the knife closed just to flip it open again. She turns back to Justin.

"Get information from him, how?"

~x~

"I can't believe we're doing this." Adele mutters again, shoving her hands into her back pockets as Nate is making sure the guy is secure and isn't going anywhere. They had made Adele go and pick off every weapon he had on him, which was a pretty surprising amount if she does say so herself. She wonders if Justin keeps that many weapons on him at all times. It's a disturbing thought.

Nate stands up straight. "Well believe it Love." He mutters back before picking up his Wendy's cup and popping the lid off. He pours the contents of the cup, ice and all onto the guy's head. The guy's head snaps up, his eyes springing open with a gasps. He coughs as some of the liquid makes its way into his mouth. "Is this…Vodka?" The guy crooks and Nate sends her a triumphant smile that lights up his features. Adele rolls her eyes at him as the guy looks between them. "What the hell is going on?" He asks his eyes landing on her and sticking. "Hey wait…You're her aren't you?" Adele looks to Nate who moves forward, grabbing the guy by the chin.

"Whoever you think she is, she isn't. She isn't anyone, if anything she's not even here. You don't see her, you see me." The guy's grey eyes blink as he looks up at Nate. Whatever it was that Nate just rambled on about confused not only Adele but this guy as well.

"That didn't make any sense." The guy points out and Adele takes a seat on the edge of the bed, watching as Nate flips open the knife he was playing with earlier. "You know what does make sense…" He starts. "My knife in your neck."

"You wouldn't…"

"Well not right now…" Nate pulls the other chair over and sits down wiping the knife's blade with his shirt. "If you give me no choice I will."

"What do you want?" He pulls at his bonds and sighs when they don't come undone.

"Information." The guy's eyes fall to Adele again and a smirk forms on his lips. "I should've known." He mutters.

"What's your name?" Adele asks, leaning forward to lean her elbows on her knees.

"Kyle." The guy answers and Adele nods.

"Well Kyle, I happen to know that James is planning something, something against me, or against someone I love. I want to know what it is." Adele demands.

Kyle stares at her before snorting. "I have no idea why he's so obsessed with you with the company you surround yourself with, it's clear your nothing but a blood whore." Adele forces herself not to jump when he screams out in pain, the knife stabbing easily through his hand. Nate bends down, his deep eyes level with Kyle's grey eyes. "You don't talk to her that way, you show some respect." He growls out and Adele watches as the veins under his eyes appear only to disappear just as fast. He rips the knife away and the guy screams again.

~x~

Adele bites at her thumb nail as she glances back into the room, her eyes taking in the beaten mess that Kyle's turned into. "This isn't working." She says finally looking up to Nate who is leaning causally against the wall next to the door.

"Of course it's not. It's not going to. This was a bad idea." He admits and Adele throws her hands up. "Then why are we doing this if you knew it wouldn't work?" He rolls his eyes pushing off to the wall to glance into the room as well before turning back to her and she has to look up as he towers over her. "Nothing I said would change Justin's mind. If we can't get anything out of him, he's going to have to take drastic measures and pack his shit and go back to James. He's going to have to do it anyways."

"Why? You don't think we can get anything out of him?" Adele looks back, Nate hasn't done more the rough the guy up, he hasn't taken the knife to him as much as Adele had thought he would but with Nate's strength and the fact that the guy is human and can't heal, you would think it would be enough but he hasn't talked, at all.

"I don't know we can't because I'm sure we can't. Justin should've known better, but he's getting desperate. These guys are trained to give nothing away; they go through months of torture training just for times like these. This guy isn't going to give us shit. He'll die before he says a word about anything involving James's plan because that's the way they trained him." Adele closes her eyes. She can't imagine having to be trained to not talk.

"That's horrible." She mutters.

"But affective obviously." She agrees with him there, she may not be able to stand the thought but it was working for them, that's for sure.

"I'm not killing him." Adele says.

"No, I am."

"What?" She snaps because he has to be kidding.

"We can't let him go. He'll run straight to James. Nothing good well come to you or me if we let him go. If James even knows I'm here, he'll send a mini army after me. I've been avoiding him for almost 3 years now; life is so much easier when he's not coming after me." When she arrived, Nate was calm, when he was beating up Kyle, he was calm. Adele wasn't sure what to think of his little freak out but it doesn't last long and she crosses her arms waiting for him to speak again. "We're killing him. It's as simple as that."

~x~

Adele leans against the wall next to the bathroom, they'd run out of questions to ask. Kyle wasn't talking and Nate was getting more and more anxious. At first this seemed like a good idea, if they could get answers from this guy that could slow James down then she was all for it but it became clear quickly that he wasn't going to give them anything but snide remarks and crude comments towards her. It was something Nate warned him not to do but the guy had ignored him and done it anyways resulting in the loss of a few fingers which had Adele turning away and almost gagging.

"If you're going to kill me, you might as well do it now. You know as well as I do that I'm not going to give you anything." He was talking to Nate who was cleaning the blade of his knife on the bed; his voice is rough, laced with nothing but raw pain. "I mean I assume you're going to be the one to kill me right? I'm sure the princess over there isn't planning on getting her hands dirty." They ignore him; Nate rubs a hand over his forehead in frustration as Adele crosses her arms running through ideas in her head. It was getting dark out; they'd been at this for hours.

"You know you didn't strike me as a killer back in Florida and you don't strike me as one now. I have no idea what James wants with you. Now that I think about it I have no idea why Braxton was so infatuated with you." Both Adele and Nate freeze, Adele's thoughts coming to an abrupt end as Nate's eyes lift to her. "I guess his reasoning doesn't matter much now that he's dead." The guy lets out a bitter laugh. "Man, the satisfaction of ending that bastard is still so sweet."

Nate stands, rushing over to Adele as she pushes off the wall, he pushes her back into it. "Don't, he's just trying to provoke you." But Adele doesn't hear him, Nate's not even sure she's with him right now as she pushes him to the side and he stagers his eyes wide with surprise as she rounds the chair to stand in front of the guy. She grabs him by the chin, picking his head up to look at him, his gray eyes almost swollen shut are glowing in amusement.

_The closet door is yanked open and she presses herself back against the side wall, Jasmine rushes in, black hair falling out of her bun and into her face as her green eyes meet those of her blue eyes. She holds out a hand that Adele takes immediately. She pulls her out of the closet, into the middle of body's sprawled across the floor. Adele swallows; she's never seen so many bodies before, especially bodies of those she loves. _

_There's a snapping of a neck that sounds besides her and she turns her head almost crying in relief when she sees its Tony, he'd snapped the neck of one of the hunters that had been sneaking up on her. He takes her other hand, and Jasmine leads their way towards the front door. The hunters left are busy setting the house on fire starting from the back. _

_Adele gasps as there is a loud curse from behind her and she's jerked back a step, Tony's hand tight in hers. She turns around and screams, her chest tightening painfully. Everything is suddenly cold as her mind if trying to sort out what she's seeing. A hunter had snuck up from behind them and had successfully plunged a stake through Tony's heart. His warm doe eyes meet hers as he falls to his knees, his hand slipping from hers as Jasmine continues to pull her out of the house. Her eyes leave Tony lifting to the hunter that still stood there; he's watching her, his grey eyes shining brightly in amusement. _

"It was you." Her voice is barely above a whisper.

"Yeah, it was me. I killed him…" The guy's smirk is cruel.

Nate comes over, grabbing her wrist and forcing her to back up. "Adele, don't listen to him. Ignore him."

"It was me princess! It was my stake that killed your precious beast!" He hollers across the room and Nate clinches his fist turning back to glare at the guy quickly before turning back to Adele who has turned away from him, her breathing is rigid and her form is tense, her fist are clinched so hard that her knuckles have turned white. He comes around to face her and takes a large step back. Her eyes were dancing, livid and terrifying.

"It was easier to kill him then I thought, everyone made him out to be some badass but in reality he was nothing more than a pus–" Nate throws himself on the ground, his hands coming up to cover his head out of complete reflex as the sound of the gun fills the motel room. He picks his head up as the loud silence follows the shot. His eyes land on Adele first who stands still aiming the gun, her eyes are wild her hands shaking violently though her shot as he looks over to Kyle was spot on.

The shot hit him in the heart, Kyle's mouth is open, his eyes wide as he stares at the blonde. He hadn't been expecting this from her, he hadn't been expecting to die at her hands, that much was clear but if Nate was being truthful, he wasn't expecting it either. Not with her fit about not killing him earlier. Honestly he just didn't think she had it in her. She was a well-polished small town princess, how was he supposed to know that underneath it all she was capable of so much damage? He would never judge a book by its cover again, not for as long as he lived.

~x~

Adele's hands we're still shaking by the time she made it back to the Salvatore house, Justin's "go home and rest" speech still ringing clear in her head. How was she supposed to rest when everything in her life was falling apart so quickly around her?

She enters the house taking a deep breath as she leans back against the closed door. She realizes what she's done, she understands the guilt she is supposed to feel but she can't bring herself to feel it. When she had realized it was him, it was the hunter who killed Tony and then laughed at her; a rage so uncontrollable turned the whole room red.

She finally understood what it meant to see red.

She could barely see past it, all she could see was the hunter and all she could think about was the beating of his heart. Why was he aloud to live but Tony is wasn't? What was so different about the two? Why Tony was the evil one when he would never ruin a family the way James and his minions have, probably more times then she can count on her two hands. It wasn't fair and she had no intentions of letting him walk away, but she had no intentions of killing him herself either. It was just when he was talking; she hadn't even realized she was doing it when she shot him. It was like a reflex, and it felt natural. It was a scary thought.

She opens her eyes when she hears footsteps and is met by the sight of Alaric standing in front of her. His solemn expression does nothing to put her at ease. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" She asks standing up straight as Stefan comes walking around the corner to face her as well. His expression isn't much better. "What? What is it?" She snaps when neither of them talks.

"Klaus came." Stefan finally speaks up and Adele lets out a harsh breath, her chest tightening as she knows where this is going. "He took Elena." Stefan steps forward to place a hand on her shoulder but she hits it away. "Don't." She mutters not trusting her voice. It's Alaric that comes towards her next, a hand on her shoulder and he receives the same reaction only he doesn't step away, he does it again and when he finds that she's not going to fight him off, he pulls her into a hug that she finds herself returning tightly. It was all she could do to keep herself from falling apart.

* * *

><p><strong>A couple things. First of all, I wasn't going to upload this tonight. I was going to wait until I had the last two chapters done before I uploaded it but I got a Guest review from MsA who pointed out to me that I haven't updated since July and I was like Whaaaa? Has it been that long? Oh my goodness, I need to get on that as of right now. So here it is! Just for you guys. Also Thank You to MsA for pointing that out to me, I try to make it so you guys don't have to wait that long but my brother is living with us and his girlfriend is getting ready to have a baby and we've been running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get ready for him. His name is Jack Salvatore. My brother wanted to name him Jack Sparrow but she put her foot down and came up with Salvatore, my brother being totally okay with this just because he's totally fangirling over Damon right now. xD<strong>

**Second, we do only have two chapters left and I've got most of it done, the ending is very clear in my head. Just to…fulfill my own curiosity, I would like to know in review form what you guys think is going to happen. So review what you think is going to happen and what you would like to see in the squeal. **

**Thank you all for your support. (: **


	36. Chapter 36

**This is actually out faster than I thought it would be which is kind of sad because that means the story is coming to an end even faster. I can't believe we only have one chapter left, it seems almost unreal. **

**Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, please review, the more reviews the better. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 36: The Sun also Rises<strong>

"_Where are we going?" Elena mumbles, stumbling slightly on a stone as the woman leads her across a rocky path. Her heart is pounding hard against her rib cage; she swallows down the anxiety, the panic, the urge to run in favor of focus on just walking straight without falling on her face. _

"_This way." The witch answers, her tone annoyed like she had no idea why she was talking. Elena couldn't help it. She always found herself talking when she was nervous. "You're Luka's sister, aren't you? I heard about you. He and your father were looking for you." _

"_Well they we're wasting their time. I wasn't lost." They continue down the path, it becomes denser, rockier and Elena finds herself tripping again, pushing into what she amuses is a branch. _

"_I can't see anything." She snaps because it's true. If she held her hand out in front of her, she would only be able to make out the outline of it so she doesn't see when the witch waves her hand. She gives off a gasp of surprise when fire explodes to life all around her, in many different pits. She takes a deep breath, taking a moment to look around. Maybe she could recognize where she had taken her. _

_But it wasn't the scenery that got her attention, it was the crumbled body lying just a head of them, in a clearing of dead grass and rocks. She faintly realizes that there on a ledge overlooking a lake. Under any other circumstances the view would be pretty spectacular. _

"_Jenna?" Elena moves forward. "Jenna! Jenna!" She drops down beside her aunt. "Jenna! Hey, Hey Jenna!" Through tears she places two fingers on her neck, searching for a pulse and is filled with completely horror when she can't find one. "Oh, my god. No, Jenna, No." She turns her wide brown eyes to the witch behind her. "He killed her? Why?" She demands but it comes out weak, sounding more like a plea than anything else. "I did everything he asked." _

_Jenna's sharp intake of breath startles Elena causing her to jump back as her aunt shoots up, sucking in air as fast as she can. "She's not dead." Elena's turns her eyes back to the witch, her face paling as she realizes what's happening. "She's in transition." _

Greta has moved from standing above them to standing over some makeshift bowl and Elena takes the time to look around them, searching for an escape. Jenna is clenching to her head, rocking back and forth on her knees. "Oh, my head. What's wrong with me?" She moans out. Elena moves over, getting closer. "Do you remember what happened?"

"You called me. You were so scared." Elena tilts her head, a look of understanding crossing her features and Jenna realizes with a curse that it was all a trick. "Oh, ah, I should have realized that it wasn't you. The second I walked out of the house, someone grabbed me. A vampire."

"Klaus. It was Klaus." Elena informs her softly.

"He made me drink his blood. And I don't... I don't remember anything after that." She looks around, trying to make sense of her surroundings. "Where are we? What happened?" She stops her questions there when Elena grabs her hand.

"We're at the quarry. He brought us here."

"Why don't I remember anything?" Jenna demands, her voice shaky with tears everything becoming overwhelming.

"Jenna, do you remember... When I told you how someone becomes a vampire?"

She nods, answering the question quickly in a chance to wave it off. "Yeah, if you die with vampire blood in your system, it's..." She trails off with a realization that leaves her whole body feeling cold. "Oh, god. He killed me."

Elena can sense the panic, the white hot panic that Jenna is feeling and she leans forward, squeezing her hand in hers tightly. "Jenna, listen to me. Listen to me; everything's going to be ok. I'm going to get you out of here."

"I'm a vampire?" It's the only thing Jenna can seem to focus on.

"And I bet you're hungry." Elena's brown eyes snap up to Greta who's approaching them slowly, with confident steps. As Elena watches her, she can hear Adele's voice in her head telling her that the bitch is too cocky, that she needs to be brought down to size. Elena's eyes fall to a sharply pointed rock just feet away from where they are.

But Elena isn't able to get it, for the minute she flings herself at it, Great throws a hand out and Elena goes soaring through the air, landing awkwardly on her side. She pushes herself up, ignoring the ring on burning flames that surrounds her as she makes to run at them only to be stopped by some invisible barrier.

"Don't bother trying to get through. I spelled the circle. You're trapped. No matter what you do." Greta explains as she picks up the rock Elena had been jumping after.

"Greta... Please, just- just let her go." Elena pleads softly as she slits her wrist with it wincing slightly at the stinging pain.

"Klaus chose her." Is all she says, adoration wraps around his name making Elena want to gag as she watches Greta lower her wrist to Jenna. "Drink it." She demands softly and Jenna stares at her wrist, watching the blood drip, hungry overwhelming every sense of her body as she leans back. She doesn't want to.

"Jenna don't!" She hears Elena but the hunger is so strong, like she'd been starved for years. It burns her from the inside making her lean forward.

"I can't…" She tries to fight, for Elena's sake but the harder she fights the stronger the burning becomes.

"Let her go, hey!" Elena's voice sounds miles away as Jenna gives in, sinking her teeth into the witch's wrist. "No!" Elena watches in horror, she wants so desperately to look away but something keeps her from doing so, her eyes filling with hot tears.

Greta yanks her wrist away, Jenna falling forward with a small whimper. She raises the flames, trapping Jenna the way she trapped Elena and Jenna sits up on her knees, every emotion that's running through her feeling that much more intense. "Look at me, hey," She turns her eyes over to her niece, she can feel her K9s extending, a vast hunger settling over her. "It's going to be okay." Jenna shakes her head, because she doesn't believe her. Nothing about this night was going to be okay.

~x~

Adele slides out of the SUV letting Alaric close the door behind her as she jogs to keep up with Elijah and Stefan who are walking quickly towards the location of Bonnie. She's been staying in that old house, the old witch burial grounds and to think it wasn't too long ago that Adele was arguing with Damon on the front lawn about her feelings for him. It seemed like a life time ago.

"The sacrifice is completed in stages as the full moon sets. First the werewolf is killed, then the vampire. Finally the doppelgänger. Once Elena dies, the curse will be broken. Klaus will become hybrid." Elijah explains to them as they walk, Adele comes up beside him leaving Alaric to walk behind. "So when do we attack?" He asks and Elijah stops walking to turn around and look at him.

"Elena's death will activate his dormant werewolf side. He'll be vulnerable during the transformation. That's when Bonnie comes in." He says. Adele lets out a breath of air as she looks up at him. "And you're sure Bonnie will survive this?" She asks quietly.

"If she can deliver him to the brink of death, I'll finish the job myself." He assures as Stefan's phone rings and he walks away from them to answer the call.

He's on the phone for all of a minute before he's looking back at Alaric and Adele with a surprised and worried expression. "What?" Alaric calls to him and Adele gets the feeling that this is about to get so much worse. "What's wrong?" He doesn't say anything for a second, listening intensely to whoever is on the phone before he mutters an oh, my god that has Adele even more on edge then she already was.

~x~

"How are you feeling?" Jenna is sitting, hugging her legs. She's not sure how to answer Elena, but she's going to try her best, Jenna understood the need for conversion on Elena's part. Elena was nervous and she always felt better when talking. "I feel like myself...Only not." She realizes that that isn't an answer that makes any sense, so she tries again. "Everything is brighter. The fire's hotter. Part of me is terrified, but there's another part of me that doesn't want to feel anything."

"Vampires can turn off the part that's human. That's the part that hurts." Elena explains softly and Jenna finally turns her head, to gaze up at her niece through the flames. "I'm going to die, aren't I?"

"No!" Elena's response is automatic. "Jenna, I'm not going to let that happen. I don't care what I have to do."

A twig snaps followed by a groan of intense pain is heard in the distance causing Elena and Jenna to look over. "Who's that?"

"That must be the werewolf." Elena mummers watching Greta appear pushing a woman to the ground, she's clinching her stomach, her eyes threatening to roll back in her head as she groans again. "What's happening to me?" She chokes out and Greta bends down watching the woman with a satisfied smirk. "I casted a spell to slow down your transformation; your insides are trying to tear themselves free." She stands, leaving the woman groaning on the ground as she sets a ring of fire around her, connecting the ring to both Jenna's and Elena's.

"Greta, witches are supposed to maintain the balance in nature. It's your duty to them to keep this curse sealed." Elena says, trying hard to talk her out of it but Great only smirks, Elena's attempts obviously laughable to her. "My duty is to Klaus! The new order." Elena's eyes move over Greta to the guy walking up beside her, his eyes holding both amusement and fondness but mostly amusement as he listens to the witch.

"Glad to know I still have a dance partner." He dwells and a new fear is gripping at Elena's gut. She's never actually looked at Klaus before but she was looking at him now and by god, he was good looking, it's kind of like the revelation made him that much more dangerous and terrifying as he turns his blue green eyes to them. "Hello my lovelies, are we ready?"

~x~

The sound of the werewolf's screams fill the area, Elena can't hear or make out anything that Klaus and Greta are saying. She paces back and forth in her ring of fire, feeling helpless. She stops noticing Klaus is now making his way to them.

"Everything I did…" Elena's eyes fall to the werewolf who is curled up on the ground, a frown crossing her pretty face. "I was just trying to help Tyler." Her eye brows raise as something clicks in her mind. This werewolf was the werewolf. The one that had bite Rose, the one that kidnapped Caroline and Adele, the one that tortured Damon and made her sister watch. This was the werewolf that had tried to kill her sister, twice.

"Are you Jules?" She didn't really need to ask, she was pretty damn sure but she felt she had to make…sure.

"I didn't want him to be alone." _But you didn't have to try and kill my sister to help him. _Elena doesn't say that, she didn't get the chance not that she was going to anyways. Elena was far too nice for that seeing as it would seem she was going to be the first one sacrificed. Klaus is standing over her ring in a smug kind of way, knowing none of them could stop him at this point. "Shall we?" He mummers to Jules as the ring of fire quickly retracts leaving Jules completely unprotected.

Elena watches her eyes flash gold and she makes a run at Klaus but he had been expecting it and whips around, flinging her easily to the ground, shoving his hand through her chest and Elena can't suppress the gasp that falls when he rips her heart out.

~x~

"Why did he take Jenna?" Bonnie exclaims, looking between the two vampires as Adele paces back and forth beside them. Stefan had just told her about his conversion with Damon, they sent Alaric down to talk to Jeremy as well.

"A punishment for meddling." Elijah answers like it was the simplest thing in the world.

"Klaus was going to use Tyler and Caroline. But Damon rescued them." Stefan explains causing Adele to stop and look between them. Tyler? Tyler's back? She shakes the thought from her head, deciding to focus on the matter at hand.

"Then why not take me? If you wanted to hit everyone where it hurts the most, he should've took me." She says on the brick of hysterics, her blue eyes bright with frustrated tears. Nobody says anything for a moment as they think over her statement. They couldn't deny that she was right, while taking Jenna hit the Gilberts and Alaric the most, taking Adele would've hurt _everyone_ and it's not like he couldn't. She was there at his disposal but if Stefan was going to be honest and just a little selfish, he's glad she wasn't the one he took.

"She's right," Adele cuts Elijah off. "Well I usually am so no surprise there." He sends her a look that tells her that this isn't the right time to which all she does is roll her eyes. It was always a good time for snide remarks. "But he didn't. He took Jenna." He finishes.

"Then we need to go. Now. Before Jenna's been sacrificed. I can kill Klaus myself." Bonnie stands determent and while Adele would agree to this Stefan just won't allow it.

"Bonnie... If you use that much power, you'll be dead. We've already been through this. It's not an option." He's still doing this for Elena but now that the stakes have changed, really they should let her do it, it was better than his plan, at least in Adele's frame of mind it was.

"Stefan would agree with you." Bonnie sends Elijah a confused glance as Stefan steps forward.

"We're going to offer another vampire. One that he'll want more. Me."

~x~

Jenna forces herself not to watch Klaus, not to watch the gruesome scene before her. Instead she focuses on Elena; the brunette is pacing again and is in fact watching Klaus, watching him closely. "The day that the lawyers called to tell me that I was going to become your guardian, you know what my first thought was?" She suddenly finds herself saying, if she was going to die, she might as well get it off her chest.

Elena looks down at her, startled. She hadn't been expecting her to say anything especially not anything like that. She shakes her head. "Isn't there someone else who can do this?" Jenna laughs lightly, because if she doesn't she knows that she's going to cry well cry harder then she already was.

"Jenna, there was no one else who could have gotten me, Jeremy and Adele through all of that." Elena tells her softly, it's true. Well mostly. Adele had taken off. She hadn't given anyone the chance to help her. She found comfort in new surroundings but when she had gotten back, Jenna had been there for her.

"It's just the thought that I almost passed up taking care of you." Jenna shakes her head, repulsed by the idea.

"But you didn't." Elena kneels down to be face to face with her as well as she can in her ring. "You put your entire life on hold to help us."

"Look around you Elena," Jenna scoffs, like everything Elena was saying was a joke. "I failed you."

"No. You didn't. I failed you." And it was true. She thinks maybe if she would've told Jenna sooner, prepared her better she would've been ready for that fake phone call, she wouldn't be here right now. "I'm so sorry. Listen. Being a vampire, it intensifies your guilt. But it also makes you stronger and faster. You can fight back. I'm going to get through this. I'll be ok. I need you to believe that. Promise me, when you get the chance..." Elena lowers her voice, placing a finger to her lips. "Run." The word is barely above a mutter but Jenna hears her and nods her understanding.

~x~

Adele makes her way from the house, Bonnie is setting up to do a locator spell to find where Elena and Jenna are in order for Stefan to be able to find them in time to make the switch.

She spots Stefan pacing the yard and makes her way over to him; he turns as she approaches sending her a small warm smile that she tries hard to return. She doesn't say anything at first; she's not sure how to say what she wants to. There's so much to be said but no words to say it with. She finally settles with a tear-filled, "You can't do this."

His chest tightens as he looks at her; he's ready to cry himself as he watches the one tear slip down her cheek. He'd seen one to many tears from her; she's supposed to be the strong one, how we're any of them supposed to stay strong when the one person who's the strongest out of them all is breaking down before their eyes? "I have to." He mummers and she shakes her head, the hair that's fallen from her braid falling into her face.

"No you don't. You don't have to do it Stefan." He pushes the hair from her face in such a brotherly way that she's close to sobbing. "I do Adele. You know I do. You've both lost so much, you don't deserve to lose any more family then you already have."

"You're family Stefan. You're that annoying older brother that is always worried about my safety. The one I never wanted but am so glad I have." He laughs at this, it's all he can do to stop the tears that fill his eyes. "Please Stefan, please don't do it." He pulls her into his arms and she holds onto him like she had no intentions to let him go.

"I'm sorry." He whispers closing his eyes at the soft cries that follow.

~x~

Damon arrives just after Stefan leaves, and though all she wants to do is run into his arms she knows now isn't the time or the place and she's mad at him, what he did to Elena isn't so easily forgiven so she stands still against the wall, watching John enter behind him carrying a box of journal's. He looks like he wants to say something to her when his eyes fall on her but she shakes her head and presses her lips together so he keeps moving, down to the basement with Jeremy and Bonnie, leaving her, Alaric and Damon.

Alaric is the one to break the news to him, Adele just not having it in her to say it aloud, let alone tell him what Stefan is doing. "He did what?" Damon exclaims looking towards her and she nods.

"He wasn't going to let Jenna die." Alaric says.

"We have a witch." Damon is frustrated that much anyone could see. "She kills Klaus, no one has to die!"

"Expect for Bonnie." Alaric points out and Damon looks for something to say, before settling for a "God, Stefan, damn it!" with a punch to the wall that with his strength has his arm going through it. He pulls it out and Adele frowns as she watches him sway slightly. Alaric sees it to and sends her a worried glance. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He mutters before looking up having calmed down drastically. "Well that's my brother for you, always cleaning up my messes." He says walking away from them, out the door and Adele chases after him.

"Where are you going?" She calls and he stop turning back to look at her.

"I was thinking that I would go see if I can't stop him." He admits and she shakes her head running down the steps.

"No Damon. He's probably already there; you can't go running out there. Klaus might kill you." He snorts a laugh like there's some kind of inside joke she's not in on before shrugging and it causes her frown to deepen. "Isn't it worth a try?" She shakes her head, swallowing as she takes his hand. "No." She whispers. "Not if it means I lose you to."

"You'd be fine." He whispers back, he knows she will, he knows she'll have to be fine without him but he wasn't going to tell her that and all she can think is how wrong he is but she isn't going to tell him that either.

~x~

She's still kneeling by the time Klaus makes his way back to them, this time he's holding a stake and Elena swallows. "Hello Jenna." Jenna stands slowly, eyeing him closely, waiting…just waiting for him to make his move. She was going to take Elena's advice. She was going to run, she's going to die if she doesn't anyways so she figures if she could actually get away and help keep Elena alive at least a little bit longer then okay and if she gets caught, well at least she tried.

Elena pushes herself up, facing Klaus. There was no doubt in Elena's mind that if Jenna tried to run, she'd be caught. He wasn't a threat to them for nothing. "Let her go." She demands quietly causing Klaus to look in her direction. "I understand that I have to die, but she doesn't!" She's walking forward completely forgetting about the fire and as she nears it, it roars to life nearly catching her arms as she reals back.

"Careful." Klaus warns as Jenna tells her not to.

"No! Jenna we can't leave Jeremy and Adele without a family." She turns back to Klaus. "I followed your rules, I did everything you asked, I didn't run. Please."

"Well, well…" Elena frowns as he begins to smirk. "I don't recall you being on the guest list." His head turns in the other direction and Elena follows his gaze, her breath coming out struggled as she sees Stefan standing on a cliff looking down at them. He says something that Elena can't hear but Klaus can. He sends Jenna a thought full glance before he's gone, reaching Stefan in seconds.

~x~

"We found something in the Gilbert journals." Bonnie explains after gathering the remaining members in the house into the basement. All this time they've been waiting for the time to come where they can finally kill Klaus, they've been searching for another way to save Elena's life. Her becoming a vampire was there last option and not a very good one at that. Bonnie thinks they might have something.

Adele gives them a look that tells them to go on when none of them start talking and its John who takes over explaining. "Jonathan journaled the story of a mother who called on Emily's services. The woman's baby was sick; dying. Emily cast a spell that would bind the woman's life force with her child."

"Skip to the save Elena part." Damon says and Adele thinks she vaguely understands where this is going but isn't completely positive yet.

"Well the child died but the mother's life force flowed through her, restoring her to life." John explained and Adele crosses her arms, leaning back against an old worn table surprised it doesn't give with her weight. "We already know that Elena's going to come back to life." She says.

"But as a vampire." Jeremy adds from his place by the fire.

"Not if her soul remains intact."

"Her soul?" Damon exclaims. "Really? You're going to put your faith in some act of god mumbo jumbo?"

John takes a few steps forward, coming to stand in front of Damon as he talks and Adele watches them closely. "I refuse to let Elena become the thing I've spent my life protecting my daughters against. And you can call that God or mystical energy, whatever you want, but yes...I'm putting my faith in it."

"John," Everyone turns to Adele, surprised to hear her addressing him head on. "If what you've been doing is protecting us, I have to admit you've done a pretty…horrible job of it. Nobody asked you to protect us and nobody's asking you to do this."

"Who else but me? It has to be someone connected enough to her."

"I can do it." It was a rhetorical question but it didn't stop Jeremy from answering. Bonnie stares over at him with wide eyes. Of course he'd give his own life up to save Elena but if this could actually work, she couldn't even think about letting him do it.

"You're not connected enough. In realty Jeremy, she's not actually your sister."

"But she is mine." At first Damon doesn't think she's serious about what's she's going to say but one look in her direction and he realizes she completely 100 percent serious. "I mean out of everyone in this room, I'm the one most connected to her. If anyone has the most chance at saving her threw life force, it'd be me don't you think?"

"No." Damon snaps, the idea is to painful to even think about.

"But if I can save her…"

"No!" Adele jumps as does everyone else; no one expected this kind of reaction from him. "It's bad enough Stefan ran off to be a hero for Jenna, You're not giving up your life for Elena's. He can do it, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work and she'll come back a vampire but I'll be damned if you die. I'm sorry but if I have to choose between you and Elena, it's going to be you. It's always going to be you." Everyone can't help but stare at the vampire. Most of them having never seen him so worked up before as he turns away from them to run his hands down his face. He was half way to hysterics at the idea and he needed to calm himself down.

"It's going to be me." John speaks up. "End of discussion." He's talking to Adele and for the first time since she found out the truth about him being her father, he actually sounds like a real father.

He makes his way back over to Bonnie who stands from where she's sitting and pulls a chair out form the table telling him to take a seat. She takes a minute to look over the grim war once more before settling behind him with her hand placed on each side of his head but not quite touching him.

~x~

"What's going on?" Jenna asks, she has no idea what's going on, she has no idea why Stefan would be here. Elena shakes her head, obviously as clueless. It didn't make scenes to her either. What was he planning? "I-I don't know." Something accrues to her and she quickly turns to Jenna with wide eyes. "You can hear them." Jenna looks back at her with her own wide eyes. "You can hear anything. Just - Just focus on them." She points to Stefan and Klaus, she's not actually sure how the hearing thing works, but she can guess it's kind of like that.

Jenna nods, before looking up at the two and trying. Elena waits patiently but when she doesn't say anything, she breaks. "What are they saying?"

"I can't – I can't make it out." She mumbles.

"You can do this." Elena encourages softly. "Just relax. Focus."

She focuses back on them, pushing hair behind her ear in an attempt to help. It does and she starts making out voices, Stefan's voice to be exact. "I can hear them. I hear Stefan."

Elena nods excitedly. "What are they saying?" Jenna stays silent, listening in closely.

"Oh my god." Jenna breathes.

"What is it?"

She can't bring herself to look up, can't bring herself to look up at Elena and when she does, she does it quickly. "He wants to take my place."

~x~

As Adele checks her phone, she realized that they must be cutting it close here. Elena's death is sure to be coming up which means there window of opportunity to kill this bastard as slim as it is, is going to get a whole lot slimmer if they don't hurry up.

Damon seems to be having the same thoughts as he begins to look a bit anxious. He begins pacing as Bonnie is doing the spell and finally just breaks all together snapping his fingers impatiently. "Come on Bonnie, we got a hybrid to kill." Alaric sends him a look but doesn't have the chance to say anything when Bonnie opens her eyes, her hands falling to her sides. "It's done." She mutters and Adele raises an eyebrow.

"That's it?" She asks and Bonnie nods.

"Let's go." Damon says rushing off back to the main floor of the house. Adele glances around at everyone before slipping up the stairs as well. She knows that there's no way Damon is going to let her go with them no matter how badly she wants to but she has to think about it rationally.

Elena was there biggest worry right now and Damon couldn't focus on getting to Elena if he was worried about her safety, not to mention she's not exactly sure what she could do. She's a human in a world full of the supernatural there isn't much she's capable of in a situation like this. I mean she can act like she's of good use when in reality all she really is, is a pretty face to look at. If she went, she'd just be in the way. She's accepted it and she's moved on. Sure it sucks to feel so useless but she would do her part in saving Elena even if it meant sitting idly by while others save her.

"It's time." She hears Elijah say, as he spots Bonnie and Damon leaving the house. Adele takes a seat on the stairs, wrapping her arms around herself. "I have weapons in the car." She watches Elijah walk from the house muttering about Bonnie being the only weapon they need. Alaric is stopped when he tries to leave the house, an invisible barrier keeping him in.

"Bonnie…." The three supernatural creatures stop walking, Bonnie turning back to look at Alaric. "What is this?"

"I can't put anyone else at risk." She answers.

"I can't stay here with Jenna out there."

"I'm sorry."

"You can't do this!" He turns his gaze to Damon. "Damon?"

"Sorry buddy, she's right." Alaric turns slightly to look at Adele and she simply shrugs looking defeated, not willing to fight anything at this point.

"No!" He snaps, upon turning back to see the three walking away. "You can't do this! Bonnie! Bonnie!"

~x~

"Elena…" Jenna says for the 5th time but her niece continues to pace, muttering about how she has to do something, how this can't happen but in all honesty what exactly was she supposed to do? What could they do against a guy that was both stronger and faster than any of them combined?

"Quite the predicament." Elena's brown eyes snap up to look in Klaus direction but never make it that far. Her gaze gets stuck on Stefan's solemn expression. He was really doing this. Did he realize how much this would hurt her? "You know, it's funny, all this talk about preserving family, and here's Stefan, granting your wish."

"Stefan…" His name falls in a whisper and he sends her a tight smile.

"It's okay." He assures her.

"Well…" They all turn back to Klaus. Elena eyes the stake in his hand for a minute before her eyes meet his. "Who's it going to be, Elena?"

Elena's mouth falls open just slightly as she stares at him. He mentions the stake between Jenna and Stefan and if he thinks she's actually going to choose between them, he was sicker then she originally thought. "No."

"Oh, don't worry. There's actually no choice." In a blur of colors, Klaus is behind Stefan shoving the stake into the middle of his back. "No! Stefan! No!" Elena cries out as Klaus breaks the stake off, leaving a piece wedged into his back in a place he can't reach. It leaves him paralyzed, unable to move from the hunched over position the stake leaves him in. "I have other plans for your boyfriend." He tells her moving around the young vampire. "I want him alive. But for now..." In one fluid motion, Klaus snaps his neck and lets him fall leaving Elena to gasp as she's forced to watch.

"Whenever you're ready Greta." Klaus calls to the witch and Elena can take a wild guess and say that he actually means for her to begin now which is what the witch does as she makes the ring around Jenna disappear. "No." Elena mutters. "No, Jenna no." She can't move though, she can't do anything from inside her ring. She's never in her life felt so helpless.

"It's alright Elena." Elena looks up at her aunt, her heart breaking even more as she notices her expression. "I know what I have to do." Elena blinks and she's gone, having used her new found speed to get to Greta. She bites her, viciously causing the witch to cry out. Klaus is behind her just as fast, wrapping an arm around her neck and using the broken stake to stab her in the side pulling her away from Greta who falls to the side. He lets her go, letting her to fall to the side, landing hard on her side. "Jenna, no!"

She picks her head up, her eyes meeting Elena's across the clearing. She can see her just fine despite the brightness of the flames surrounding her. Her emotions are a mirror to her own fear. "Just turn it off. Jenna. Turn it off. You won't be scared anymore." She doesn't yell it, but Jenna hears her as if she had.

And she's forced to watch when he stakes her, yelling out as he does. There had been nothing she could do and the scene she knows will forever haunt her.

~x~

Once Alaric had calmed down enough to make a coherent thought he went back down into the basement to look over Jeremy who still sat unconscious in the chair John had sat him in. Without the man noticing, he slipped from the basement hoping to find his remaining daughter somewhere in the house. He was relieved when he found her sitting on the steps overlooking the front yard.

He stood leaning against the door way watching her. While he'd been able to peruse Elena, while he'd been able to study the young brunette from all angles, he'd barely had the chance to talk to Adele. She was always gone, always off doing her own thing. Even now while she had no idea who was going to live to see tomorrow and who wasn't, she had something else on her mind. He could see it, it was in one of the ways she was like Isobel.

He'd wanted to get to know her more, wanted to spend time showing her that he could be there for her. Elena had been willing to look past what he'd done, had been willing to give him a second chance despite the way he'd hurt her and a part of him couldn't understand why Adele couldn't do the same but he understand now. Out of his two daughters, the one who was more easily hurt by those she trusted and loved was Adele. When it came to the ones his daughters held dear, she was most vulnerable to being hurt first. Nobody seemed to realize this expect him and he hates to attempt it, Alaric.

"I know your there. I'm not completely oblivious you know." He's snapped from his thoughts, his eyes refocusing as he becomes aware of her blue eyed stare, piercing through him. He still doesn't understand where she had gotten such blue eyes. They we're so intelligent, so consuming, so hypnotizing.

"Sorry." He mutters with a shake of his head. "I was just thinking."

"Join the club." She scoffs and he moves forward, slowly taking a seat next to her and if she didn't want him to, she doesn't say so.

"How are you feeling?" He asks and she seems surprised as she gazes up at him if her wide eyed stare is anything to go by.

"I don't know." She whispers. It's his turn to be surprised. Was she actually going to talk to him instead of telling him to F off? "There's so many emotions that I can't make sense of them." She glances away from him, something flashing across her features as she does. "Why'd you do it?" She blurts out and he sends her a confused stare. "Why'd you…give your life for Elena's?"

"All I ever wanted to do was to protect Elena, to protect you. It's the reason I gave you up so willingly. I knew that Grayson and Miranda could give you the life you deserved. I knew they'd be the parents that you needed. Isobel knew it to." She flinches at the mention of her birth mother, the memory of Isobel ripping her necklace off still so fresh in her mind.

"When you we're just my uncle…the uncle who came to stay with us a couple weeks out of every year, I loved you. I thought you we're so cool. Jenna and Elena seemed to hate you but I don't know, I didn't but then you tried to kill Damon and everything I thought I knew about you shifted and then Elena finally told me the truth and I felt so…so hurt. I pretended it didn't bother me, I pretended I hated you and that was that but it was more than that. It was knowing that I just found out I'm adopted and while my birth mother is some emotionless vampire who couldn't give a damn about us, my father is my _uncle_, who's been in my life the whole time and I thought, "God, could he really not have wanted me so much that it didn't bother him to see me every year calling his brother dad?""

Despite himself, he found himself tearing up. This had been what he wanted, he wanted to hear her. He wanted her to talk to him and now that she was, he wasn't sure he wanted, he wasn't sure he could handle hearing what she had to say.

"If you we're some random guy, I think it would've been better but you're not. You've been here the whole time." Her voice cracks, a tear slipping down her cheek.

"I love you and your sister Adele. I always have. Everything I did I did to protect you." He stops talking to run a hand over his head and she looks up at him, her eyes shining with tears she's trying hard not to shed. "I'm your father by blood but in reality, Grayson is your dad and even now you still can't look at me like a father figure because you already have one. Alaric is more of a father to you then I could be ever wish to be." Adele feels like she should say something, tell him that it's not true but she can't. "Here…" He holds out a white envelope that she slowly takes, when it's in her hands, he leans over and kisses her forehead, before standing up and leaving the porch, leaving her alone staring at the envelope.

~x~

The first thing he's aware of is the excruciating pain that seems to be everywhere at once. The 2nd thing he's aware of is the sound of someone, somewhere in the distance chanting in a language that's not English. The third thing, he can open his eyes and he does, briefly confused by the surroundings he's met with. He realizes what's happened, his memories flooding back and he reaches around groaning as he can't seem to get a hold of the broken stake in his back.

_Elena. _

He lifts his head his eyes finding her kneeling in her ring crying silently to herself. He rolls his head to the side, taking in the scene around him and when his eyes land on Jenna, he drops his head. "No." He picks his head back up to look at Elena who is staring back at him. "I'm sorry."

She brings a finger to her lips telling him to be quiet. "They're going to kill him?"

"Yes." He mouths and her eyes leave him to look a head of her, to watch Klaus approach her slowly.

"It's time." Her ring goes out and she clamps down on the sliver of fear that stirs. When she was younger, she always wanted to be like Adele. She wanted to be tough like her, wanted to be able to laugh at her fears and say go to hell. She watches him hold out a hand and grabs a hold of every ounce of hatred she has built up for this one guy and pushes herself from the ground. She ignores his hand and pushes past him.

She takes her place, making a point to stare at the ground. He comes up beside her, and grabs her chin. She fights him but he forces her to look at him. "Thank you, Elena."

"Go to hell." She spits out, having the briefest thought that Adele would've been proud before it's gone left in its place is the pain of his fangs slicing into her skin and her lips part in a silent gasp. The pain subsides, leaving behind nothing but a numb sting as her eyes meet Stefan's. Everything around her begins to dim, if it wasn't for Klaus's arms wrapped so tightly around her, she would've fell. Everything swims in and out of focus, the world spinning around her and she tries hard to hold on, tries hard to keep her eyes from fluttering closed but it's useless, everything she tries just slips through her fingers and she's soon swimming in nothing but black.

~x~

"I can feel it." Stefan's looks away from Elena's lifeless body to watch as Klaus begins to make his way away from Greta who pushes herself from kneeling on the ground, her eyes locked on Klaus as well. "It's happening."

Stefan flinches as Klaus looks to the sky and his bones begin to crack, popping in and out of place, reforming themselves in a way that should be painful but all the vampire does is laugh with enough glee to make him feel sicker then he already does. His eyes begin to glow, that yellowish gold that comes with being a werewolf.

A crack of thunder sounds and lightening lights the sky and Klaus is thrown through the air, the fire in the pits reigniting and relief rushes through his veins at the sound of chanting from behind him, chanting that belongs to Bonnie.

He sees Damon first, who comes up behind Greta who is lifting her hand in an attempt to stop Bonnie. He snaps her neck and the witch who'd so blindly followed Klaus falls dead while he moves to grab Elena, picking her up from the stone she's lying on.

He brings her over to Stefan laying her down beside him as Bonnie continues the spell. He moves over behind Stefan and yanks the broken stake from his back causing the vampire to groan in pain, rolling over onto his side. "I need you to get her out of here."

"What about you?"

"I'm not leaving till he's dead." Stefan pushes him softly. "Go." Damon moves past him, Stefan backing away so he can pick her back up and disappearing into the darkness around them. Stefan staggers to his feet turning his head to watch Elijah walking up to Klaus who is now lying painfully against stones. Bonnie lets her hands fall, a satisfied smirk gracing her features as Stefan comes up beside her.

"Elijah?" Stefan hears Klaus mummer and he watches as Elijah stares down at him. "Hello Brother." The original mummers back before striking out, his hand shoving through Klaus's chest to grip his heart. "In the name of our Family, Niklaus." He twists causing a small gasp to fall from the hybrid.

"I didn't bury them at sea!"

Elijah pauses in his actions. "What?"

"Their bodies are safe. If you kill me, you'll never find them." Elijah sits up a bit straighter, his grip on Klaus heart loosing as he stares down at his brother.

"Elijah!" The original glances up at the younger vampire who can see the obvious change in him. "Don't listen to him!"

"Elijah, I can take you to them. I give you my word... Brother." He looks back down at Klaus, his thoughts jumbled and his plan for revenge foiled. How could he kill him when he was the only one who knew of his family's location? That was if he was telling the truth.

"Do it and I'll take you both out." Bonnie calls out, seeing the decision he's clearly already made.

"You'll die." He reminds her gazing up at her with a look that's challenging.

"I don't care!" He turns his eyes away from her, back down to his brother. His eyes are pleading and he takes a deep breath before turning back to Stefan and Bonnie. "I'm sorry." He mutters. The two lunge forward, both yelling out a loud, "No!" but he's gone, having jumped over the ledge and the fire, into the water far below them, taking Klaus with him.

~x~

By the time he's walking through the door, the sun had risen and he moves forward into the house, towards the small couch in what he's assuming is the living room. "Come back as a vampire and I'll stake you myself so don't." He mummers softly not that she can hear him. He lays her down on the couch, as he hears the sound of her heels.

He moves, stepping off to the side as she kneels down. She'd taken her hair out of its braid leaving it to fall in soft waves down her back, her manicured hands brush hair from her sister's face, her blue eyes roaming her pale face. While he knows she knows he's there, nothing else mattered to her in this moment, nothing but her sister.

"How is she?" Damon turns to face Jeremy and Alaric who'd just come running into the door way. Adele doesn't look up, she just continue to run her fingers through Elena's hair. "She's dead." She mumbles just loud enough for them to hear.

"What about Jenna?" The question is enough to tare her eyes from Elena and they turn to gaze up at Damon who gazes back at her, his own blue eyes sad and she swallows looking away from him as her eyes quickly fill with hot tears.

"I'm sorry Jeremy." She hears him mutter as Alaric is backing out of the room. Elena sucks in a breath, her back arching off the couch and Adele jumps, her eyes widening as her sisters eyes pop open. "Elena."

"Adele?" She breaths out, looking between her sister, Damon and Jeremy who had come up beside Adele.

"How do you feel?" Damon asks softly, searching her eyes as she looks at him.

"I…feel fine." She nods and Adele lets her head fall with a sigh of relief that mirrors Damon's and Jeremy's expression.

~x~

She slips her locket over her head letting it rest against the fabric of her black dress. She lifts her puffy blue eyes to the mirror flinching at her reflection. She picks up her brush ripping it through her tangled blonde hair. She puts it up in a half French braid, half pony tail. She places the brush down as her eyes fall to the white envelope sitting next to her body spray.

She hadn't opened it yet, she hasn't had the heart to. After Elena had woken up, they had to explain to her why she wasn't a vampire and that led to the discovery of John. He hadn't made it any further then the front yard. She picks the envelope up and turns around, making her way to her bed where she sits down, folding her legs up under her as she rips the envelope open. She shakes the contents onto the bed, a letter and the Gilbert ring that he took from Alaric.

She picks the ring up first closing it tightly in her hand before picking up the letter and opening it slowly.

_Adele, _

_This isn't how I wanted to do things. I didn't want to write you a letter but I find I have no choice now. Whether or not you're actually going to read this is beyond me. For all I know you might burn it but if you are reading this then that means I've done something right. _

_There are a few reasons I've written this letter to you, one because I know that you won't talk to me and two because if you actually did talk to me I wouldn't know how to say what I want to say. Writing what I want to say is one thing but actually saying it is a whole different ball game, especially when it comes to you. _

_The third reason is because I'm dead, because if I wasn't you wouldn't be reading this. You wouldn't have it because while living I made a promise to myself not to give up on you. I wanted to be able to say this to you, in person but since I'm no longer there, this will have to do._

_Your special, you've always been special. You're smart, you're strong and you're beautiful. You're everything I knew you would be and more and I'm confident that you'll do amazing things. _

_I want you to be happy and I realize now that with a normal life in a small town you could never be truly happy. You deserve to be happy and if being with Damon is what makes you happy then so be it and if you're with Damon I know sometime in the future you'll become what I've tried so hard to protect you from but that's okay because I know that if there's anyone who'd make it as a vampire it's you. It hurts me deeply to attempt that you would make an extraordinary vampire. _

_I don't ask for you to forgive me, because I know you can't and I don't ask you to forget because it's not who you are, all I ask is for you to believe me. Believe me when I tell you that I love you now as I've always loved you and always will love you. _

_John. _

_PS. I'm giving you my ring. It's yours now and you may do with it what you want. If you give it back to Alaric I just ask that when he's done with it, he gives it back. I feel better knowing that you have it, knowing that in the end it'll still be with you. _

She clinches the ring tightly letting the letter fall to the bed as she closes her eyes willing herself not to cry. She's done so much crying these past couple days. She's just been able to get herself to stop.

A knock on her locked bedroom door causes her to jump and she drops the ring onto the bed next to the letter. "Adele?" It's Elena and she slips from the bed, putting on her black flats as she grabs her phone from her bed side table. She slips out of the room her eyes lifting to meet her sisters. "You ready?" Adele swallows, glancing to her feet as she shakes her head. Elena reaches out, grabbing her sister's hand and squeezing it tightly and Adele takes a deep breath lifting her eyes back up.

"Let's go."

~x~

Jeremy's hand grips tightly to her own his eyes dark and his expression tortured as they reach the Gilbert Family plot, where two new graves have been made next to those of his parents. Neither he nor Adele had been back to their parents grave since the day of their funeral and there both regretting it as they look between the three gravestones. As hard as she tries to fight it, her blue eyes are filling with hot tears and she grips tighter to her brother's hand, as if it was her life line.

Elena with the roses in hand moves ahead of them. She bends in-between the two freshly dug graves and looks at the roses in her hands. She places one on each grave, first on Jenna's and then on John's before she pushes herself up and her eyes move to the gravestone next to theirs. She moves over to it, bending down and letting the tears finally spill over as she reads the stone.

_Grayson Gilbert and Miranda Sommers Gilbert_

_May 23, 2009_

_Loving Parents _

As she lays the roses on each side of the stone, Adele finds herself looking away over to Damon who has ventured away from them. He seems to sense her stare and looks up from the ground, his glowing blue eyes meeting hers as she lets the tears spill. It just didn't seem worth holding them in.

Damon sends her the smallest of smiles and she finds herself choking back a sob. She has no idea what's going on with him, here she was needing him more than ever and he was distancing himself from her. He'd barely even look at her let alone be with her and that hurt, making everything she was feeling, the loss, the fear, the sorrow that much worse. She turns away from him to watch Alaric place a rose on Jenna's grave. He squeezes Jeremy's shoulder and sends her watery smile when he passes them.

~x~

"We're going to head back to the house." Stefan informs his brother, walking up behind him. He'd been watching him closely, watching the way he stayed clear of Adele. Something was wrong.

"I think I'll skip the coffee and Tea cakes." Damon mutters fixing the sleeves of his jacket and dress shirt.

"Damon, they need us. All of us." He reminds him and Damon shakes his head, refusing to turn around and look at him. "And then what's the plan, Stefan? The curse is broken. How does one go about killing an all-powerful wolf vamp and his two-faced older brother?" Damon still couldn't believe what had happened. After everything they did, the bastard still got away.

"I have no idea." Stefan attempts with a sigh.

"We need to get an idea." He finally turns around, his eyes more serious then Stefan's ever seen them. "Fast."

"I'm not going to let Elena or Adele lose anybody else."

"I wouldn't make any promises, brother." Damon mumbles causing Stefan to frown. "What's that supposed to mean?" He asks watching as Damon yanks up his sleeve. "Tyler Lockwood bit me." He holds his arm out and Stefan moves forward, his expression one of disbelief. "It's actually more of a nip really but there it is." Stefan takes his arm gently, inspecting the infection. The skin is red, irritated and the veins under the skin pulse and move. He yanks his arm back when Stefan's green eyes move up to look at him.

"We'll find something." He finally whispers, his voice weak. "A cure."

"There is no cure Stefan." Damon reminds him, looking away, over towards Adele who is standing with Elena and Jeremy, her face pale and her eyes puffy as she's hugging Elena tightly.

"We kept Elena human right?" Stefan says but Damon refuses to look away from the blonde. "We found a way when there was no way. Hey." Stefan pulls his brother's attention back to him. "I will do this."

"You want to do something for me? Keep this from Adele. The last thing she needs is another grave to mourn." He slaps his brother on the shoulder lightly, before rolling the sleeve to his shirt and jacket down. Stefan lets him walk away, watching him with an expression that is tortured. Neither of them seeming to realize Adele watching him walk away as well.

~x~

"Are you okay?" Her blue eyes snap up from her mug and she blinks as she looks up at Caroline standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Everyone but Damon was in the living room and she had noticed after a few minutes that Adele was missing, she got up with nobody seeming to notice and went in search of her finding her leaning against her elbows on the counter staring blankly into a mug of coffee.

"No." Adele mutters, her eyes falling back to the mug. "But I will be." Caroline can't help but smile at her.

"Of course you will, I don't think there's anything that could stop you." Adele cracks a small smile in her direction before it falls and she pushes herself up to stand.

"Something's wrong with Damon." She says softly and Caroline frowns at her. "I don't know what but I know there's something wrong."

"Maybe he's just overwhelmed. We're all a little shaken." Caroline offers moving into the kitchen to stand across from her at the counter.

"I don't know. I just wish he would talk to me, look at me, just give me something other than this silence. I don't understand it; he's never been this way with me. I need him and he's just…shutting me out." Caroline shakes her head at her best friend, sending her a comforting smile.

"It'll be okay. He'll come around."

"I hope so." Adele whispers as her phone buzzes on the counter next to her mug. She picks it up and swallows back her tears as she sees it's Jasmine. She slides the bar over, answering the call before pressing the phone to her ear. "Hey, Jazzy…"

"He took Michael!" Adele's eyes lift from the mug, to stare straight ahead at Caroline, her lips part in a silent gasps as her spine stiffens in surprised horror. "James took Michael!"


	37. Chapter 37

**Oh, my god. I can't believe it. The last chapter is finally here. I've been waiting to write this chapter for so long, the scenes I've been anticipating for so long are in this chapter and I can't wait for you to read them. There isn't much I can really say. I'm going to start working on the sequel right away. I'm not sure what it's called it but I have decided that when it's almost ready I will put up an author's note and let you all know what the name of the story is and when to expect it to be out. **

**If there's anything anyone would like to happen in the squeal please tell me. I'll see if I can work them in. I really hope you guys like this. Let me know. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 37: As I lay Dying<strong>

"_Hey, you've reached Justin; I can't pick up the phone right now but…" _She ends the call clinching her phone tightly in her hand as she turns back to the living room where Jasmine sat on the couch in the same spot Adele found her in when she arrived at the apartment.

"Why would he do this?" She mumbles again and Adele sighs running a hand over her forehead. She moves out of the kitchen, and rounds the couch to look at Jasmine. Her green eyes shine with tears that continue to spill over onto her flushed cheeks, Willy sits at her feet looking up at her with sad brown eyes.

"I don't know Jazzy but I'm trying to get a hold of Justin. He's not answering." Adele explains handing the raven haired girl a glass of water. She takes a small sip of it before turning her tear filled gaze up to her blonde friend. "Call Nate." Adele opens her mouth but closes it bringing her phone up. Why hadn't she thought of that?

It rings, four times before he answers and Adele frowns when he doesn't say anything, she looks at Jasmine who is watching her closely. "Nate?" She calls out softly through the phone.

"Princess…" He dwells out before breaking off into a cough. "You need to hang up..."

"Nate…"

"Hang up Princess, hang up the ph–" He breaks off in a loud groan that turns into fits of coughing. Adele's gut twists in the most uncomfortable way as she swallows. Something was wrong here and she hangs up quickly. Jasmine frowns at her, her tears having stopped for the time being.

"What's wron–" Adele's phone blares loudly in her hand and she looks down at it with wide eyes. To her completely horror it's a video call from Nate and she looks over to Jasmine who urges her to answer it.

"Nate…" She says as the video comes up and there's nothing but a concrete wall. The screen begins to redirect and Adele pushes down the fear and horror that twist painfully in her gut when it isn't Nate who comes up on the screen.

"James." She says through clinched teeth.

"Hello _Princess._" The man laughs and Adele cringes at the sound.

"Where's Nate? Where's Michael?" Jasmine comes up behind her, appearing in the video as well but James ignores her, his focus completely on Adele.

"There right here, would you like to see?" He turns the phone to a figure huddled in a corner, out of the direct path of sunlight from an overhead window. "Nate." She whispers and his dark head snaps up. She can't see much of him, the shadows making it difficult to make him out at all. "What did you do to him?"

"I've been looking him Nathanial for almost three years now; he's slipped through my fingers every chance he got so when I had the chance to catch him I took it. All it took was a slip of Vervain in his drink and he was mine for the taking. Don't worry about him Adele; he's as good as dead." Just to prove his point two men appear from the sides. They reach into the corner and drag him from the shadows; she's able to see him more clearly as they drag him into the sunlight.

Jasmine lets out a loud gasps, her hand covering her mouth as Nate throws his head back letting out a deafening scream filled with agony as his skin begins to burn. "Stop! Stop!" Adele yells and lets out a breath of relief when the two guys let him go and shoots back into the corner pressing himself as hard as he can against the wall.

"Now in regards to your ex…" Adele's breathe catches, her lips parting in horror as the camera is turned again. He's on his knees, being held up by the arms by a guy on each side of him, his head is hanging blonde hair blocking her view of his face and his breathing is rigid. "Oh my god." Jasmine mumbles behind her.

James hands the phone off to some else, moving towards Michael. He grabs the boy by the hair lifting his head and his black eyes open, blinking and focusing on the camera. Adele's lips press together as she looks at him. His bottom lip is split and there's a gash on his forehead that is bleeding slowly. "Say hello to your ex-girlfriend and current girlfriend Michael." James taunts before letting his head drop again and Adele shakes her head. "Let him go." She breaths out.

"Now that wouldn't save my greater purpose."

"Yeah? And what's that?" She growls out, her fear replaced by anger.

"You finally joining me." He answers with a bright smile.

"I already told you, I'll never join you."

"I don't think you understand Adele." He reaches back over, grabbing Michael by the hair again and picking his head back up. "You don't have much of a choice. You either join us or we kill him." Her heart rate sky rockets as Jasmine's hands wrap around her arm and squeeze.

"You wouldn't. He's human." James smile turns wicked as he pulls from his pocket a syringe full of…is that blood? Adele narrows her eyes at the small screen. James tilts Michael's head to the side and inspects his neck closely. Adele gasps when he shoves the needle of the syringe into the side of his neck causing Michael to hiss in pain.

Adele watches with a horrifying realization that it was blood, vampire blood as Michael's wounds begin to heal. James throws the now empty syringe to the side. He turns to look back at the camera with that same wicked smile. "Is he?" He asks and Adele frowns in confusion as James moves behind him. He wraps an arm around Michael's neck, using his other hand to hold the side of it and Adele's eyes widen. "No! No James, please!" Jasmine screams jerking away from Adele as her hands fly up to cover her face and Adele almost drops the phone as James snaps his neck with one swift move.

"You have until the end of today Adele. Make the right decision, save your ex." James says as they let Michael fall and Adele's eyes stay on him as she swallows back tears. No, she wasn't going to cry. The bastard didn't have the pleasure of seeing her cry. "I'll contact you."

"No." James stops on his way over to the phone, his brows furrowing in confusion. "No." Adele shakes her head, her hands beginning to shake as the anger turns to rage. "You're forgetting that I've lived in in this town for 17 years. I know every inch of it as if it was my own house. I'll find you." She ends the call and almost throws the phone across the room.

"He killed him." Adele turns her head to look at Jasmine, with her hands still over her face, she shakes her head. "He killed him. He actually killed him." She cries and Adele moves over to her, prying her hands away from her face.

"Yes, he did." She says and Jasmine chokes on a sob. "But he'll come back."

"As a vampire!"

"It's better than nothing!" She snaps causing Jasmine to swallow, her green eyes wide. "But we need to go."

"Go where?" Jasmine calls following behind her as she rushes into Michael's bedroom. Jasmine watches as she runs the room, grabbing a duffle bag from the closet, throwing clothes and essentials into it. She shoves it into Jasmines chest as she exits the room and Jasmine spins on her heels to follow her. "Adele, where are we going?"

"To find him."

~x~

She slows to a stop, yelling a curse at the stoplight. It was the third one that had stopped her. How was she supposed to find him in time if the world was fighting against her? Her phone blares loudly in the cup holder and she jumps turning her blue eyes to look down at it. She picks it up and breathes a sigh of relief when the name displayed is Damon. She ignores the call placing it back into the cup holder.

"Who was that?" Jasmine whispers carefully. Adele was being a bit snippy not that she could really blame her with everything she'd been through in just 2 days. Jasmine admires her, she thinks if it was anyone else, they'd have just given up already but Adele was still fighting.

"Damon." She answers calmly and Jasmine eyes her.

"Why didn't you answer it?"

"If he wanted to talk he had the perfect chance earlier but all he did was ignore me. He missed his chance, now he's going to have to wait." And she was back to being snippy but at least it wasn't directed at her. The light turns green and Adele shoots forward, the engine revving loudly as she does.

"Where are we going?"

"They we're in some kind of warehouse. They took Michael this morning which means they didn't have the time to leave town. There are only three abandoned warehouses in Mystic Falls. My best guess is there at the old storage warehouse, its run down and isolated enough that nobody ever goes out there anymore. If I we're James and needed a warehouse to do my evil bidding, I would pick that one." Adele explains and Jasmine nods in understanding. It was really smart, she would've never thought of it but then again she hasn't lived in the town for 17 years.

"Where is it?"

"It's about a mile away from the boarder that separates Mystic Falls and Fells Church."

"Fells Church?"

"Michael's never taken you to Fells Church?" Adele sends her a frown as she shakes her head. "I used to drive up there to have lunch with Mikey almost every day, there's this little café that has the most amazing sandwiches. Remind me that we have to take you there."

"Yeah, if we can get him." Jasmine mutters, tears pricking her eyes.

"We'll get him. Hey," Jasmine turns to look at Adele, who sends her a hard look. "We'll get him."

~x~

She runs a finger over her bottom lip as she stares at the large black SUV from across the street, she was right not that she was surprised. Though James could be thought of as unpredictable, Adele had a mind that was on many levels, ingenious and twisted.

"There here. Why are we just standing here?" Jasmine whispers coming up to stand beside Adele, who is stood scouting the area around them. There wasn't anyone around which were both a good thing and a bad thing.

"We can't just run in there half-cocked." Adele mumbles. "We need a plan."

"We're not. You have a gun and amazing aim while I have the power to make their minds explode." Jasmine mutters, her green eyes wild as Adele regards her thoughtfully. They can't go storming in there, she might have a gun but she can take a guess and say that everyone in there does as well and she's not even sure how many are actually in there. From the video there was 5 plus James.

"I got an idea." She says after a moment of Jasmine staring. "Follow my lead."

She jogs across the street with Jasmine close behind her and if Jasmine expected her to pull one of those moves where she ducks behind the SUV and sneaks her way into the building she was sadly mistaken because she slows to a walk as she's nearing the steel door off to the side of the building, the one that was meant for the workers when the place was still running.

She sends a glance Jasmine's way who's watching her closely, having no idea what she's thinking. Adele shocks her by lifting a fist and knocking on the door. "Adele, what are you–" Adele quickly shushes her as the steel door unlocks and cracks open slightly, someone peeking out of the crack studies her closely. "Who are you?" There gruff voice calls from the other side and Jasmine watches as Adele sends the man a sarcastic smirk.

"I'm beginning to think that your little cult needs a little help in communication." She remarks and Jasmine is able to keep herself from jumping when Adele's foot connects with the center of the door causing it to swing open, the guy who was holding it being sent to the ground.

Adele pushes her way into the warehouse, her eyes singling out James right away who looks up from staring at something on a make shift table, his eyebrows raising when he notices her. "James." Adele calls with a bright smile. "We need to talk."

~x~

Jasmine presses closer to the blonde as five different guns are pointed at them at once; even the guy Adele had hit with the door was pointing a gun at them whilst still lying on his back. Adele doesn't seem fazed by this though why should she, she obviously knew they weren't going to shoot her seeing as James silently orders them to lower their guns with a wave of his hand.

"What a nice surprise Miss. Gilbert. Remind me never to under estimate you again." Adele scoffs at this stepping closer to the man. "And I see you brought Miss. Reed with you. What a pleasure." Jasmine scowls but stays silent. "I'm guessing you're here for the Landon boy right?"

"Well nobody ever accused you of being stupid." Adele remarks holding her head high as she regards him and he ignores her opting to single to someone behind him.

"Justin, bring the boy forward." Adele's brave act filters but only for a second, not long enough for anyone but Jasmine to notice as Justin appears from the back of the building, dragging with him Michael's lifeless body. He drops him at James feet, standing tall and emotionless beside him. "I suppose he should be waking here shortly." James says lifting his eyes from Michael. "But the stipulation still stands. You either join me or we force him to complete the transition and kill him."

"And my answer is still the same. I'll never join you. I'd rather be dead." A muscle in his jaw twitches as an obvious sign of annoyance.

"Be careful what you wish for Adele." Adele jumps her head whipping to the side as someone grabs her by the arms from behind. She struggles, her eyes meeting Jasmine's as someone has grabbed her as well. She can see the intentions in Jasmine's green eyes and shakes her head as she turns back to look at James.

"If you think Jabba the Hutt here is going to scare me, then you don't know me as well as you think." The guy's grip tightens slight causing Adele wince as her bruises from Damon are still very much present and sore.

"I'm not trying to scare you Adele, I just need you to understand that you don't have a choice. You've never had a choice Adele. I gave you the option to make this easy as a courtesy to you but I'm done being polite. You decided you want to do this the hard way, it's going to be your fault that this innocent dies."

"I don't think so. He's not going to die James. Not today." Adele sends Jasmine a look and right away the guy holding her lets go, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as he hits the ground. Adele slips her gun from the waistband of her the shorts under her dress and fires a shot at the guy holding Jasmine. He lets her go yelling out and stumbling back as the shot hits him in the shoulder. Adele shoots again, hitting him in the chest and he drops to his knees before hitting the ground on his stomach.

Adele turns the gun to the right, shooting again at a guy who's rushing up while raising the gun in his hands. The bullet hits him in the neck and he makes a choking noise as he stumbles back, falling onto his back. Jasmine takes down the next one, throwing a hand up that sends him flying into the back wall, his head slamming against it, cracking his skull.

Jasmine and Adele's attention turns to the next hunter who is lifts his gun his finger nearing the trigger. A swift kick to the wrist has the gun skidding across the pavement, the hunter's attentions drawn to the side his eyes growing wide. "Are you kidding me Taylor?" The hunter snaps. "What the hell are you doing?"

Justin pulls his own gun from its halter on his side and hits the man in the side of the head, he stumbles back his hand coming up to the bleeding wound when Justin shoots, hitting the guy in the shoulder. He falls with a loud groan as Justin whirls around on James who's disappearing through one of the back doors. He goes after him at full speed.

"What was that?" Jasmine speaks up after a long minute of staring at the now closed door they disappearing though. She turns to look at Adele, who isn't looking away from the door. "I…I think he just fled." Adele mutters with a tilt of her head. "I'm guessing the guy isn't used to fighting his own battles and when Justin made his show of turning on him, he knew he couldn't win. He fled."

"Yeah but that doesn't…" Jasmine breaks off in a small shirk as the hunter Justin shot grabs her arm. Adele is raising her gun to shoot when the guy screams, letting go as Nate who Adele had completely forgotten about in all the hype comes up from behind and sinks his extended fangs into the hunter's neck.

He lets the lifeless body go, opening his dark eyes to look at Adele and Jasmine. "That, I needed." He remarks, licking blood from his still extended fangs. Adele shakes her head at him before turning her head, taking in the damage around them. Nate walks away from them to retrieve something from the table James had been at when they walked in. Adele turns her head to watch him and he holds up a ring much like Damon's to show her before slipping it on.

"Michael." Jasmine mutters causing Adele to look back over watching the raven haired girl jog over to her still dead boyfriend. She drops down behind him, rolling him over and pulling him into her lap. Adele looks away as she begins to brush the hair from his face.

The backdoor creeks loudly as it opens and Adele and Nate look over watching Justin enter. He spots them and begins a slow jog over, his steps echoing against the walls. "I lost him. I couldn't catch him before he got to the SUV." Adele releases a heavy sigh, her eyes falling back over to Jasmine and Michael. "Adele…" Justin steps towards her, his fingers brushing her arm lightly. "I'm so sorry. He didn't call me until he had Michael and when he did I had to come, I had no idea what he was up to, if I had known I would've stopped him." She pulls the hair tie from her hair running her hand through it to break up the French braid.

"It doesn't matter. It happened. When he wakes up I'm going to take him to the old Lockwood cellar just long enough to…explain everything to him. While I'm doing that you two need to clean this up and then meet us there because Nate can help him understand what it means to be a vampire that is if he decides to complete the transition."

Nate nods, agreeing silently and though Justin doesn't say anything or do anything she knows he agrees. She moves past them, leaving them to whisper to each other as she bends down to Michael. She can hear Nate's angry whispers but isn't able to make out his words, so she tunes it out focusing completely on Michael's still face.

"What if he doesn't want to complete the transition?" Jasmine whispers staring at her with wide terrified eyes. Adele swallows keeping her eyes on Michael. "Then we respect his decision." Though Adele knows Michael and she knows he'll complete it. He has one major reason to stay alive.

With a sharp intake of breath, Michael's whole body jerks upright and Jasmine's arms tighten around him pulling him back down as his black eyes look up at her. "Jasmine." He crooks out his hand reaching up to grab at her arm, holding it tightly as he sucks in air. "It's okay. You're okay." Jasmine whispers, bending down to rest her head against his chest as her eyes fill with tears once more. "What happened?" He gets out, his eyes moving over to Adele.

"You don't remember?" She whispers the question as Jasmine lets him sit up. He looks away from her, down to the floor as he continues to take deep breaths.

"I…I remember coming home and Jasmine telling me that I need to go to bed but before I could someone knocked on the door, when I opened it…I was attacked. I woke up…" He takes a moment to look around. "Here and I…I remember some guy, he was telling me how I shouldn't be so easy to trust people I hardly know, how I don't really know anyone as well as I thought and then he was talking to you, I think when he stick me with something and…I don't remember anything else. It's all just blank."

Adele sighs, taking his hand in hers and he looks up at her, his black eyes regarding her carefully. "There are things Michael that I haven't told you. Things I've been meaning to tell you but haven't had the chance." He frowns. He already knew that. "That man…he killed you. Michael, you we're dead."

"What?" He mutters looking down at their hands.

"I'll explain everything, I will but right now we need to get out of here." He meets her eyes. "You have to trust me. Mikey, do you trust me?"

His answer is almost immediate. "Of course."

~x~

His head falls back against the stone wall of the cellar. Adele had long since stopped talking, after explaining everything about James and her summer and exactly what was happening to him. They we're just waiting for him to say something, anything but he wasn't sure what to say and in all honesty what could he say? In the span of an hour he just found out that vampires are real and he was in the process of becoming one because of a guy who has an unhealthy obsession with his ex. Oh and he can't forget the part about his current girlfriend being a witch. She's a frigging witch.

How did this happen? How did his life become this? He's been a good guy; he's done everything he could to be a good guy, why was this happening to him? Why was this happening to them? There seems to be more to it, more Adele has to fill him in on, but isn't; probably holding back in an attempt not to overwhelm him but it was a little too late for that.

"The choice to complete the transition is yours Mikey. You have to decide if you really want to." Adele says after he still hadn't said anything.

"And what happens if I don't choose to?" He mutters his eyes directed at the ceiling.

"You die." She whispers and he closes his eyes. "You have 24 hours to make the decision."

"What is there to decide Adele?" He breathes out opening his eyes and turning them to her. "I have a sister that needs me; I can't leave her with no one. I promised her she could come stay with me this summer, how am supposed to just give up when she needs me?"

"You can't." She says and he nods.

"I can't." He agrees and she looks away from him, pulling her phone from the ground beside her. "What now?" He asks watching as she begins to type something out on her phone.

"I text Nate and tell him to stop by the hospital on his way here." She explains.

"For?"

"A blood bag." He grimace and she notices, cracking a smile in his direction.

"It might sound gross but if you're actually serious about living, it'll be the best thing you ever tasted or so I assume." She mutters. Michael groans, his head falling back onto the wall. Jasmine sighs, grabbing his hand and he laces their fingers together. "It's okay." She mummers to him leaning over and kissing his shoulder. "We'll get through this," He turns his head to look down at her. "One step at a time." She assures and He tries to smile but ends up shaking his head instead and she leans up, pressing her lips to his a soft kiss that holds all the reassurance he needs.

~x~

Adele ignores his call for the 2nd time as she crawls into bed. She'd just gotten out of the shower. It was close to 2 in the morning, Nate had shown up with 3 blood bags and had given Michael a small pep talk about control –to Adele it sound more like a small rant– before ripping open the first bag and handing it to him.

Michael had taken a sip out of it and gaged. He looked ready to refuse to drink it before Adele saw the hunger set in and he tore throw the blood bag in a quick second. When he'd torn into the 2nd one, the whites of his eyes had turned red, the veins under his eyes become present and had begun to pulse and when he threw that one away only to grab the last one she saw his extended K-9's. She had to turn away, the mere sight made her urge to cry that much stronger. This was a guy she had grown up with, a guy who was a first for a lot of things for her, he was the first guy she ever loved and she still loved him to a certain extend. She made him into this, this was her fault and she could still feel the guilt as she curls up under her blanket.

Her phone rings again and she grabs it, quickly ignoring the call again. She wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone that included Damon. She wasn't in the mood for his mood swings. He couldn't go from ignoring her to being desperate to talk to her that fast, if she wasn't careful he was going to give her whiplash. All she wanted to do is sleep. She needs to sleep.

~x~

She stands leaning against the side of her mustang as she waits outside the main lobby of Michael's apartment building. Justin is standing beside her, smoking a cigarette and watching the main entrance.

Nate was inside with Michael and Jasmine, compelling the owner of the building to let Michael out of his contract so Jasmine can sign for it. It was the only way Michael would be able to get into it and because it was in his name and he died it would be impossible for him to enter. He insisted that he needed into the apartment; he went on for 10 minutes about not being able to just leave Willy behind.

It was true what they say about the heightened emotions, she's seen more emotion from Michael in the last hour then she's seen from him in the three years she dated him. It was actually quite amazing.

"You know this isn't over right?" Justin speaks up causing Adele to glance over at him, she holds up a hand to block the sun from her eyes as she does. "He got away, he's going to regroup and he's going to come back harder than ever."

"Yeah," Adele says turning back to watch the three emerge from the office. "I figured."

"As long as you know that I'll be there. You can't get rid of me now." She smirks up at him as he stomps out his cigarette bud.

"I'm not going to lie Justin, when I saw you yesterday I doubted you." He nods shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans, scoffing his boot against the road.

"I know, I saw it in your eyes, but I told you Adele that I was going to help you and I meant it. You'll never be in this alone. We'll win this fight."

"Or die trying?"

"Or die trying."

~x~

Elena smile softly up at her boyfriend as he's making his way over to them. Today Mystic falls is showing a special screening of Gone with the Wind. It was probably the most looked forward to day for any young girl who happens to leave in the town. Some we're even dressed up for the occasion. "Hey." The vampire mumbles looking between the three sitting on the blanket. Elena had decided to drag Jeremy a long with her, saying that they needed a normal day while Caroline joined them, not being one to miss a chance at seeing Gone with the Wind for the 20th time.

"Hey. Look who couldn't resist an epic romance." Elena jokes though Stefan doesn't smile as he bends down to her, his eyes looking around them.

"Where's Adele?" He questions.

"I actually haven't seen her since yesterday. She came in after I went to bed last night and was gone before I woke up. I texted her and she said she was too busy to talk but she'd meet us here later." Elena explains.

Stefan nods, a pained expression flashing across his face before it's gone. "Will you take a walk with me?" Elena frowns and nods slightly as she pushes herself from the ground. Stefan offers his hand and she quickly takes it letting him lead her away from Caroline and Jeremy.

"I'm breaking the rules, you know. Movie night's supposed to be a distraction. Tomorrow we can return to our regularly scheduled drama." Elena says as they stop a ways away from the rest of the population at the park.

"I know. I wish this could wait, but it can't." He takes a deep breath, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I need you to call Adele."

"I already told you, she said she's busy. She's not going to answer."

"No, Elena. You need to call her, text her, blow up her phone until she response or calls you. I need you to get a hold of her." His green eyes are so serious that Elena finds herself taking out her phone and dialing her sister's number. It rings twice before going to voicemail.

"What's going on Stefan?" She asks before she hits redial.

"The other night when Damon was helping Tyler, something happened. Tyler was starting to transform, and Damon was bitten." Stefan explains to her, causing the brunette's mouth to open as she stares up at him. She swallows, tarring her eyes away to look around them before looking back up. "Is it…is he going to…"

"Yeah." Stefan nods and Elena feels like she's been punched in the gut. "Oh, my god." She mutters, placing a hand on her stomach.

"He doesn't want me to tell her but she needs to know. She needs to see him before…"

"Stefan…" Elena's brown eyes stare up at him, wide and terrified. When it came to Damon, Adele was the most vulnerable. Elena wasn't sure how Adele would handle this.

"It's not over." He says quickly. "There might be a cure, but I have to find Klaus to get it."

"No. He's going to kill you." Elena practically yells, she wants to help Damon but there had to be another way, she didn't want Stefan dying as selfish as that was.

"No, he had the chance to kill me, but he didn't." He reminds her. "Whatever Damon's done, whatever has led him here, I'm the one that made him become a vampire in the first place, so if there's a chance for a cure, I owe it to him to find it."

Elena wants to refuse to let him do it, but knows she can't so instead she pulls him into a tight hug. "Call Adele, do whatever you have to, to get ahold of her but make sure you tell her there's still hope. Make sure she tells Damon, that there's still hope." Elena nods against his shoulder.

~x~

Damon's head rolls to the side as he leans against the stones in the cellar Stefan locked him in. He felt so weak and he didn't like it. He's never liked feeling so weak. He blinks only when he opens his eyes, he's not in the cellar anymore. He's walking down the hall back in 1864; he's getting ready to leave for the war.

He's walking by Katherine's room; he can't help but peer in through the cracked door and stops when he sees her sitting in front of her mirror, fixing her pearls. "Mr. Salvatore, spying on a lady is a sign of very poor manners." Katherine calls her dark eyes glancing up into the mirror, finding his.

He enters the room slowly, figuring it was no use to flee. He's already been caught. "My apologies Miss Katherine." He calls lightly.

Katherine turns in her seat, sending him a sweet smile that holds a thousand promises. "But since you are here, my corset strings seem to be knotted. I wonder if you can undo them."

"Of course." He mutters moving forward as she stands, turning around so her back is to him. He ignores the corset as he reaches her, instead pushing her hair over one shoulder, running his fingers along the smooth skin of her neck. She leans into him, tilting her head up so she can properly see him. "Will you miss me while off defending the South?" It sounds like a perfectly innocent question.

"I shall." He answers as his eyes meet hers through the mirror.

"Then I hope you will hurry back. I fear I will be lonely with you away." She tells him, sending him another one of those smiles; it threatens to undo him completely.

"I would think Stefan should be company enough." He remarks somewhat bitterly as Katherine laces their fingers together before turning around to face him.

"Is it so wrong for me to want you both?" He's about to open his mouth to answer, but stops himself when he has the sudden urge to turn around. He turns his head, wondering what it was that was behind him and when his eyes catch a flash of blonde, he spins away from Katherine to stare in awe.

"Adele." Her blue eyes soften at him; the smile she sends him makes him dizzy with different emotions, none of which were bad. He steps forward, only to stop. What was she doing here?

"Can't you see?" She calls over the distance to him softly, her voice wrapping around him like silk. "She's playing you, she doesn't love you. She could never love you."

Katherine's fingers touch his cheek lightly, pushing his head over to look at her. "Promise me that you will return quickly." She whispers, her eyes hypnotizing.

"Damon…" Her shivers as his name falls from her lips, turning his head back around to look at her. "Don't." She mutters. "Don't do it. She can't make you happy." He sucks in a breath as her hand lifts. She holds it out to him, her blue eyes so wide, so…consuming that he finds himself lost in her, completely forgetting Katherine's presents behind him. He doesn't even realize when he grabs her hand and everything starts to vanish around them morphing back into the cellar. She's the last thing to disappear and all he's left with is the memory of her smile.

~x~

She's leaning against the counter in the kitchen of the apartment. Nate and Michael we're in deep conversion on the couch, Jasmine was making something on the stove on the other side of the kitchen and Justin headed back to his motel room. He said he had some things to take care of which Adele thinks means he has something related to James, he needs to do. She didn't question him, just told him to be careful.

Adele's phone blares loudly from the counter and out of the corner of her eyes she can see Michael flinch. She grabs it quickly muttering a sorry as she checks who it is. It's Jeremy…again. "Just answer it. There obviously not going to leave you alone until you do." Jasmine calls and Adele sighs. She's right, this was the 3rd time Jeremy called, Caroline had called 4 times before that and Elena 5. She slides the bar over and presses it to her ear.

"Jeremy…" She scolds, she's about to tell him that she doesn't have time but he cuts her off.

"Adele…just listen to me, okay? You need to come down to the park. You need to meet us here. It's extremely important that you do, if you don't…you might regret it." His voice is low, his tone serious, worried, and pained all mixed up together and she blinks in surprise. Both Nate and Michael have stopped talking, there staring at her. She can only guess that they had heard, Nate was obviously teaching him the hearing aspect of being a vampire.

"Yeah…" She says after a second. "Okay, I'll be right there." She hangs up, grabbing her car keys from the counter as well. "I have to…uh I have to go. I'll call you guys later." She hugs Jasmine and Nate quickly and sends Michael a reassuring smile, having been warned against hugging him for the time being.

~x~

Elena is pacing, her arms crossed over her chest. How was she supposed to do this? How was she supposed to tell her sister that Damon was dying? How was anyone supposed to tell someone that the man they love is dying? Because Adele did love him whether she was in a place to attempt it or not.

Caroline is watching her, biting at her nail, she hasn't spoken a word since informing her that Damon was dying and it was there job to get a hold of Adele and tell her. She didn't even seem to notice when Gone with the Wind started. Adele had said something to her yesterday about being worried that something might be wrong with him but she had blown it off. What a way for it to come back and bite her in the ass.

Jeremy had been the one to get a hold of her and with a three second conversion he came back to tell them that she was on her way, now they we're waiting, away from the screen, away from prying eyes and ears. He straightens when he catches a flash of blonde hair in the crowd of people but as the blonde sits down to cuddle with a guy, he realizes it's not her.

"Hey." He jumps, as do Elena and Caroline before spinning around to find his sister standing behind them. Her lips twitch slightly as amusement shines brightly in her blue eyes. She had enjoyed giving them heart attacks and Jeremy wants to roll his eyes because that was just her, she's always loved sneaking up behind people and scaring the hell out of them, even when she wasn't trying she still got the biggest kick out of it. "Hey." He breathes out.

Her blue eyes turn to look between Elena and Caroline, showing curiosity and a slight hint a worry. She knows something isn't right; his phone call had given that away. "What's going on?" She asks.

Jeremy takes a small step back, his eyes falling to the ground as Caroline becomes wildly interest in the movie she can barely see all the sudden. Adele notices and her small grin falls slowly as she looks to Elena who is the only one brave enough to meet her stare. "What's wrong? What's so important that I had to come rushing down here?" She demands to know, her hands coming up to rest lightly on her thin hips.

Elena swallows back her urge push Caroline forward and run, she didn't want to have to be the one to do this. Elena had the time while she was waiting to realize that while she and Jeremy have lost a lot, Adele's lost more. She lost friends, a fiancé and here she was about to tell her that a guy who single handedly helped her move on, the guy she now loves is going to die as well. How does one handle that? "Elena…" Elena's brown eyes which have moved to look at her shoes snap up. "What is it?"

She opens her mouth only to close it because she can't figure out how to say it. Jeremy seeing her struggle takes a step back up and mentions Adele to the bench beside them. "Maybe you should sit down." He mutters causing her to look over at him. Adele snorts, moving her arms to cross over her chest as she straightens herself out. "I don't want to sit down." She snaps. "I want someone to tell me what the hell is going on."

"Adele…" Everyone looks over to the blonde vampire, somewhat surprised. She'd been so silent they almost forgot she was there. She looks over to Jeremy and Elena before letting out a breath of air and straightening her spine as her eyes move back to her best friend. "Damon's dying." She says softly and Elena gaps at her. Caroline ignores her stare, it was better to get it over with fast, kind of like popping a shoulder back into place. The longer they dragged it out the more it was going to hurt.

Adele's stare is blank as she looks at Caroline. Nobody says anything, there just waiting for her reaction that doesn't seem like it's ever going to come and there shocked when she snorts a laugh. "That's very funny but seriously I don't have time for this." She turns ready to walk away but Elena reaches out, grabbing her by the hand and pulling her back.

"Adele…" Elena sighs. "We're not kidding."

"Yes, you are." Adele says her voice soft as she looks at Elena with wide blue eyes.

"Stefan was the one who told me to get ahold of you, it happened a few nights ago. Tyler bit him. He's out looking for something, anything to help but it's a very slim chance he'll find something." Adele can hear her, can make out every word she's saying but she can't seem to grasp them. She feels like someone was threatening to rip her world out from under her feet. She could hardly breathe, her stomach hurt, her chest is tightening painfully.

"Adele…" Caroline's voice calls but it sounds miles away. "Are you okay?"

"No." She breathes. "I have to go. I have to go to him." She turns, dashing off before anyone could say anything. Jeremy tells Elena to go with her, not trusting his sister to be able to drive right now.

"Adele!" She slows down, looking back to her sister who comes running up beside her. "I'll drive you." She reaches out taking Adele's shaking hand and peeling her car keys away from her.

~x~

Jasmine glances at the clock for the 4th time in the last 10 minutes causing Michael to shift. Jasmine looks up, feeling the movement in her legs as they are resting on his lap. She finds him staring at her, his black eyes regarding her carefully. "Are you okay?" She asks softly. She'd asked him that 5 times today and he rolls his eyes at the question.

No he wasn't all right and she damn well knew that, it was taking everything in him not to rip her throat out but Nate told him to suck it up, that being near her was the only way he was going to learn to control his hunger and she was the only one he needed to be around right now considering his feelings for her –which have magnified greatly he's noticed and She was the only one going to be able to fend him off if need be.

"I'm fine, are _you_ okay?" He asks wanting all the focus off of him, he'd had enough attention to last him his whole life which according to Adele and Nate is going to be a very, very long time. Jasmine sighs, her green eyes leaving him to look at the clock again.

"I'm worried."

"About?"

"Adele." He nods narrowing his eyes slightly. He had been wondering about her as well, from her brother's phone call it sounded like something was wrong. "She ran out so fast, I just feel like something's wrong. I didn't get a chance to talk to her yesterday but when she arrived but something was wrong. I think someone died because she was dressed in all black and she had been crying but I hadn't asked."

"I know everything that happened with James but I feel like there's more going on with Adele then she's letting on." He voices his thoughts causing Jasmine to snort.

"You have no idea." She mummers softly, resting her head against his shoulder and he stiffens, holding his breath and trying hard not to listen to the sound of her heartbeat which causes her to sit back up. "Sorry." She mumbles and he swallows thickly.

"I remember that guy…Stefan's older brother. He compelled me at a fair to attack Tyler Lockwood and then I was attacked by Caroline of all people." He wants to laugh at the memory. It seemed almost unreal that Caroline Forbes could hurt anyone.

"I heard about that. He was trying to prove something to everyone, he ended up being wrong." Michael looks at her and she sighs realizing she should explain. "That Tyler guy is a werewolf, he didn't want to believe werewolves exist but they do and there bite is deadly to vampires, one simple bite and your dead."

"Tyler's a werewolf?" Michael groans. "That makes so much sense." Jasmine laughs, as she leans forward grabbing her smart phone from the coffee table. "I'm going to call her, see if everything's okay."

With his new sense of earing, he listens as the phone rings before clicking on as Adele answers. She gives a shaky hello that has Jasmine glancing up at him with a frown. "Hey, is everything okay?"

"_No." _Adele answers, sounding about ready to cry. _"Elena's driving me to the boarding house. The full moon was a couple nights ago, Tyler bit Damon." _Jasmine gives off a short gasps sitting up and swinging her legs from his lap, her hand covering her open mouth.

"Oh my god, Adele…"

"_He didn't tell me. Jazzy, He should've told me. I knew something was wrong and all I did was ignore him when he was calling. God, I'm so stupid!" _

"Adele, you're not stupid." Jasmine says softly and Michael watches her, watches as her green eyes fill with sympathy. He didn't understand what was going on, he wasn't sure who Damon was or his importance to Adele but she was upset and that's all that really mattered.

"_Yes I am. I knew something wasn't right and instead of getting to the bottom of it, instead of confronting him, I ignored him. I thought he was pushing me away when I needed him the most. Jenna and John died and he wasn't there for me so I got mad at him. I should've been there for _him._" _Michael's eyes widen slightly as he to sits forward, to glance at Jasmine. John died? Jenna died? Both of them? When? How? How much did he really not know?

"Like you said, he didn't tell you there's no way you could've known. Are you going to see him?"

Adele takes a deep breath, most likely trying to settle herself down before answering. _"Yeah. I need to, I can't…" _She trails off causing Jasmine to run a hand through her hair.

"I understand Adele." She whispers. "Just go, I'll call you…later." Adele says goodbye and hangs up. Jasmine takes a deep breath before pulling the phone away and placing it back on the coffee table.

"Who's Damon?" Michael asks causing her to jump slightly. She would have to get used to his being able to hear _everything _now.

"Damon is Stefan's older brother." She answers. Ah, that's why the name sounded so familiar. "Adele is…completely in love with him." She mutters and everything is so much clearer as he sits back.

~x~

Adele closes the door to Elena's car softly, looking up at the huge house. Standing here now, she wasn't sure she could do it, she wasn't sure she could go in there and see him like that.

Elena comes up beside her, taking her hand and giving it a soft squeeze. She wasn't going in there with her, Adele realizes, she was just there for moral support until she actually made it into the house and then she was going to leave because Adele realizes that even if she doesn't think she can do it, she has to. She has to do this, alone.

She takes a deep breath and lets her hand go, walking towards the house. She's almost to the porch when she hears a soft squeak from behind her. She's about to turn around when Liz appears in front of her, placing a hand over her mouth to keep her from saying anything. "Don't make a sound." She tells her as two deputies are coming up from behind her. Adele's eyes are wide as she looks at her. Her being here couldn't mean anything good.

~x~

Liz was just an afterthought. She'd opened the cellar door and he'd thrown her against a wall and escaped. He needed to find her, he needed to find Adele and he wasn't going to do that locked up in the cellar until he dies. If he was going to die, he was going to make sure he saw her first. He wouldn't die without seeing her.

He makes it to the park, where crowds of people have gathered for a showing of what looks like Gone with the Wind which reminds him of Adele's desire to watch the movie with him. He was supposed to cook for her; he was supposed to teach her how to cook.

He stumbles, stopping to catch his balance. When he looks up, he sees her. She standing by the statue to his side, she's in that sundress she was in in the picture he stole from her. She's barefoot, her blonde hair blowing slightly in the breeze and she's looking down at her phone in her hands.

"Adele." Her blue eyes snap up, catching sight of him and she blinks before a slow sweet smile makes its way across her face. She looks ready to come near him when suddenly she's gone replaced by the sight of her brother.

"Damon." He says with undertones of relief in his voice. Alaric called him not even 10 minutes ago asking him if Adele was with him and when he had told him no, Alaric told him that if he found her, to get her somewhere safe because Damon had escaped and he was looking for her. Alaric told him that he was unstable and he was worried that he might hurt her without meaning to so when he saw Damon, he jumped at the chance to stop him.

"Where's Adele?" Damon asks, blinking up at him. "I need to see Adele."

"Okay." Jeremy nods. "Let's get you out of there first."

~x~

Elena leans against the desk in Sheriff Forbes office, watching her sister pace the room biting at her thumb nail. Once they we're forced in here and the door was slammed on them, Adele had beat against it for a good 10 minutes before giving up and she's been pacing ever since.

She wants to say something, anything to reassure her that it's going to be okay but how could she do something like that when she wasn't even sure it was going to be okay? She had no idea what was going on outside of this office. There was no way to tell what they've done or haven't done to him.

The office door opens and Liz walks in causing Adele to stop pacing as she turns to face the woman. "Where's Damon?" She demands. "What have you done to him?"

"Why do you even care?" Liz snaps. "You know what they are, what they do." She moves around Adele sounding frustrated and annoyed which Adele takes as a good sigh, it must mean that he got away but that also means he's roaming the streets most likely in a delirious state.

"I understand why you hate them but you're wrong." Elena says standing up straight to turn to Liz who's behind her desk.

"There murderers," She glances between the Gilbert Twins. "End of story."

Adele's about to say something but the office door opens again and a deputy enters. "Damon Salvatore was just spotted outside entering The Grill." He informs Liz, Adele quickly turns back seeing the woman getting ready to leave.

"You have to let me come with you," Liz glances up at her. "He's sick. He's…he's not himself." She pleads but Liz just shakes her head turning to look at the deputy. "Keep them here." She orders him as she's leaving the office and the door slams on them once again as Adele covers her face with her hands having the urge to scream.

5 minutes and she's back to pacing, Elena's back to leaning against the desk. Adele is muttering to herself but Elena can't make out anything she's saying. Finally she stops, leaning her hands against a chair as she looks at Elena. "We have to get out of here. We have to go get to him. He could hurt someone, they could hurt him." Something flashes across her face as she looks away from Elena towards the window beside her. She turns, opening the wooden shutters, her gaze thoughtful.

Elena jumps when Adele suddenly picks up the chair and hurls into the window. The window shatters as the chair goes through it, Elena watches as Adele uses her foot to knock out the sharp edges of the glass left before she's pushing herself up and jumps from it. Elena glances at the door before quickly following her.

Adele runs across the street and pushes her way into the closed Grill. As she rounds the corner into the main area she spots Liz sitting on her knees with Caroline across from her. Elena rushes forward and she follows. "What's going on?" Elena asks as she stops, Liz and Caroline glance up at them.

"How…how did you get out?" Liz asks and the sisters glance between each other.

"That's not important right now. What's going on? Where's Damon?" Adele asks. Caroline sighs, looking up at them.

"I don't know where Damon is but…my mom was aiming for him and I guess he ran and she shot Jeremy. He died…" Sensing the freak out about to happen she quickly stands up. "But Bonnie has him, she and Alaric went up to the house, she said she knows what to do." Adele closes her eyes briefly before turning to Elena.

"Okay…go…go find them, I'm…I'm going to go find Damon." Elena nods and with one last glance at Caroline and her mom they run off.

~x~

She jogs through the people sitting on blankets, enjoying the movie. Some send her annoyed glances while others ignore her completely and when she doesn't see him she jogs around the screen coming out on the other side where she slows down to a stop looking around. She runs a hand over her face. How was she supposed to find him? He could be anywhere.

"Adele." She spins around with a sudden rush of relief. She takes in his appearance as she swallows. He looks horrible, his eyes are weak, he's sweating and he looks about ready to collapse.

"Damon." She breathes rushing forward. "We have to get you out of here. We have to hide you." She moves under his arm, letting him rest it over her shoulders as she wraps an arm around his waist. She helps him move forward slowly.

"It's you." He mutters turning his head to look at her. He stumbles and she isn't able to catch them both causing them to fall. She hits the ground on her butt while he lands on his knees but he doesn't seem to notice as he continues to stare at her. "Is it right?" He mutters and she looks up at him with a frown. She pushes herself up onto her knees in front of him, needing to get him up. "You're really here?" He continues. "You're not going to leave me again?"

"No." She says quickly. "Damon…no. I'm here." She assures him and looks around when he suddenly falls forward to rest his head against her chest. She wraps an arm around him, brushing her fingers through his hair. "I'm right here."

~x~

"Adele…" She reenters the room from the bathroom, with a wash cloth in hand coming over to the side of the bed to look down at him. "I'm right here." She says softly using the towel to wipe some of the sweat from his face. "You need to get out of here…" He says and she shakes her head. "I could hurt you."

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm not leaving you." She tells him.

"Get out of here…" He groans, rolling onto his side before coughing. He sits up slightly gripping at his chest as he does and Adele moves in behind him letting him fall back against her as he clams down, his breathing rigid as he listens to her mutter that it's okay focusing on her fingers running lightly over his arm.

"It's not okay. It's not okay." He groans. "All those years, I've blamed Stefan. No one forced me to love her. It was my own choice." She bites her lips as she listens to him, wiping the wash cloth across his forehead. "I made the wrong choice. Tell Stefan…I'm sorry. Okay?" She swallows past the tightening of her throat, fighting back tears as she nods. "Okay."

He falls silent. This had been what he wanted, he wanted her and now that she was here, he still couldn't find a way to say everything that he felt he needed to say. She was warm and she smelt good, he realizes just how sad this really is. How he'd been so bad for so long and now his downfall was going to come in the form of a small werewolf bite. "This is even more pitiful than I thought." He finds himself saying.

"There's still hope." She whispers, her chin resting against his head.

"I've made a lot of choices that have gotten me here. I deserve this. I deserve to die." She slips out from behind him and bends down beside the bed to look at him. "No, you don't."

"I do." She shakes her head but he stops whatever she's going to say. "Adele…It's okay, cause if I had chosen differently, I wouldn't have met you. I'm so sorry; I've done so many things that hurt you." The tears she's been trying so hard to fight well up in her eyes as she shakes her head at him again. "It's okay Damon. I forgive you…for everything. None of it matters anymore, it's never mattered."

"I know you love him…" Adele sucks in a short breath, how come she hadn't been expecting him to say something like that?

"No…" She says softly but he continues as if she hadn't said anything.

"But I love you…" She closes her eyes, causing a tear to slip down her cheek. "I need you to know that."

"Damon…" She opens her eyes just to see his eyes have closed. "I love you." His eyes open again and he blinks trying to focus his blurry vision on her. "It's been you, I've loved you but I just…you we're right. I was scared. I knew I'd lose you."

"You'll…you'll be okay." He mutters and she stops fighting the tears, she can't stop them. It's just not worth fighting them.

"You're wrong. You've always been wrong, I won't be okay Damon. I need you, I need you here, I need you with me. I can't do this without you. You're everything to me." She cries softly cupping his face in her hands. "Damon, you promised me."

"I'm…I'm sorry." His eyes close again and she chokes back a sob as she lets her head fall against his chest. "You can't do this to me." She says against the fabric of his shirt before picking her head back up. She looks at him before leaning forward and pressing her lips softly to his. He doesn't respond and she pulls back before moving into the bed beside him and laying her head against his chest, taking his hand into hers. She can hear the faint beating of his heart and it makes her silent tears come faster.

Adele picks up her head at the sound of a faint knocking from down stairs. "Hello! Anybody home?" A voice that sounds strangely like Elena floats up but by the mocking tone Adele knows it's not Elena. She sends one last glance down to Damon before getting up and rushing down the stairs. What the hell is Katherine doing here?

She reaches the front door surprised. She's been expecting Katherine to spring out from somewhere ready to kill her but she finds her leaning against the door frame just outside of the house and her lips fly into a smirk. That's right. Elena technically died which makes her the sole owner of the house. How delightful. Though her glee is short lived as she remembers just whose house she owns and how he's right upstairs dying.

"What do you want Katherine?" She growls out stopping at the open door.

"Now, now. Don't get all defensive." She sings holding up a glass bottle of some king of red liquid. "I am after all the one who has the cure." She smirks as Adele's eyes widen. She holds it up to her and before she can think about it Adele snatches it surprised when Katherine just lets it go.

"So you got free?" Adele asks after exaiming the bottle.

"Yep. Finally and when Damon asks cause I know he will tell him I owed him one." She turns ready to walk away but Adele calls out after her.

"Where's Stefan?"

"He's paying for that." She mentions to the bottle. "He gave himself over to Klaus. I wouldn't expect him anytime soon."

"What does that mean? 'Gave himself over to Klaus'?"

"He sacrificed everything to save his brother." For a moment her expression is grim before she replaces it with a smirk. "Good luck breaking the news to Elena. Good bye Blondie." And she's gone before Adele can blink.

Adele doesn't stop to think about what she said, she pushes it from her mind completely as she rushes back up the stairs to Damon's bedroom. He's exactly where she left him having not moved a muscle but his eyes open as he picks up on her foot steps and he looks up at her with hooded eyes. "Where did you go?" His voice is raspy, he's struggling.

"I went down to get this." She holds up the bottle for him to see as she sits back down beside him. "It's the cure Damon. Katherine brought it." She pops it open placing it to his lips and making him drink it. When it's empty she replaces the top and throws it to the end of the bed.

"Katherine?" He asks, his voice already stronger and Adele feels like she could cry in relief.

"Yeah. She said she owed you."

"But where's Stefan?" Adele swallows, looking down at him her expression going from relief to grim and he stiffens.

~x~

Adele hangs up the phone with a sigh as Damon emerges from the bathroom. After breaking the news to him and sitting there for a while just to make sure he was really going to be okay, she'd sent him into the bathroom to take a shower but hadn't heard it come on. She'd taken the time to call Elena while he was in there.

She'd found out that Jeremy was okay. That Bonnie with the help of Emily was able to bring him back and he was now at home resting with Alaric and her looking over him. Adele then went into informing her about Stefan.

Elena had cried not that it surprised her, she had said she was coming over there but Adele talked her out of it, telling her that there was nothing they could do about it tonight, that they would talk about it tomorrow, they would figure something out, they always did, they've made the impossible happen more than once, they could get him back but it wouldn't happen tonight.

She looks up at Damon as he's slipping into a new shirt, leaving it unbuttoned as he turns to her as well, he has something to say. She can see it. "He…he shouldn't of done it." He says and Adele pushes herself up from the bed. "Damon…" She mutters.

He moves forward, coming to stand in front of her and she looks up at him with a new sense of relief. He was really okay, she could hardly believe it. "No Adele…this was the worst thing he could've done…out of all the stupid things he's ever done, this is by far the…" He cuts himself off as Adele grabs the sides of his shirt pulling him towards her.

"Shut up." She breathes as she leans up pressing her lips to his and his eyes close, his arms coming around to encircle her waist as he pulls her into him, marveling at how well she fits against him. She pulls away, resting her forehead against his.

"I love you." She mummers causing him to shutter as he brushes his lips against hers.

"Say it again." He whispers and she smirks moving her arms up to wrap around his neck.

"I love you." She mummers again as she pulls him backwards. Her knees hit the bed, causing her to fall and she pulls him down with her as he captures her mouth in a kiss as his fingers skims down her thigh leaving a burning sensation that as her wanting him even closer.

~x~

She slips from the house, closing the door softly behind her. She pulls the sleeves to Damon's button down shirt further down her arms as she makes her way across the driveway to Michael and Jasmine. Jasmine had called her, wanting to talk to her and telling her they could be at the boarding house in 10 minutes. That the two had decided that they needed to just go and ride around for a while, to give Michael some fresh air.

Michael leans up, kicking down the kick stand to his bike as he can hear her approach and Jasmine smiles softly at her from standing beside the bike. As Adele reaches them Michael turns the bike ass as Jasmine pulls her into her arms hugging her tightly.

When she pulls away Adele sends her a soft smile. "How are you?" She asks turning to Michael who sends her a lopsided smile. "Horrible." He answers and she sighs softly, he can sense her guilt, he'd been able to sense it from the moment he woke from the dead. "Don't worry about it short stuff. I'll be okay sooner or later."

"What about you?" Adele turns her blue eyes back to Jasmine. "How are you?"

"I'm good." She smiles. "I'm actually really good considering."

"So Damon's okay?" This causes her smile to widen as she nods. "So where do you guys stand now?"

"I'm not sure Jazzy; I'm not worrying about it right now. All I know is he's alive and I'm going to bask in that fact."

"What about James? You know he's going to come back. He's not going to take being defeated lightly." Jasmine voices and Adele actually laughs.

"We'll take care of him when the time comes; right now we just need to take care of ourselves. We need to…regroup." She tells them. "We need to be our strongest."

"Well you know what they say…" Jasmine smiles at her blonde friend shoving her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. "What doesn't kill you…"

"Usually succeed in a second attempt?" Adele raises an eyebrow with a smirk with causes Michael to snort a laugh as Jasmine shakes her head.

"I was going to say makes you stronger."

"Oh well yeah…" Adele laughs. "That too."

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you all so much for sticking with this story, I know you didn't have to and it means a lot that you have. I hope you all enjoyed and once again let me know what you thought of the story as a whole by typing a review in the blank little box below please. :p<strong>


	38. Author's Note and Snippet

**Okay. Here's the deal. I'm working hard on getting the first chapter to the squeal finished but it's proving difficult with my laptop not working and my Netflix account not up and running.**

**I wanted to come on here and let you all know that there have been some delays but I'm working hard to get them fixed and get back on track. Not having a laptop is driving me insane. I feel deprived of writing and I hate it. **

**And I feel bad for having to make you all wait so long. It's not my intention believe me so I have spun something together on my kindle. A small snippet of what's to come in the relationship between Damon and Adele. It's my way of saying I'm so so sorry. I'll keep you all updated, I promise.**

**I hope you enjoy this small sneak peek at Damon and Adele's blooming relationship. **

**P.S: Not a huge fan of typing on a touch screen I've come to notice. :p **

* * *

><p><em>She's standing alone in the middle of town square. Upon taking a glance at her phone she finds the time to be a little after 12 am, the only light coming from the street lights around her. She takes a slow look around, her eyes landing on The Grill across the street which is bustling with activity. <em>

_She takes a small step in that direction thinking maybe she can find someone who can tell her what is going on. _

_"Adele." She spins on her heels, her eyes wide, expressing her surprise. Why is he here? What is he doing here? If he's here where are the others? _

_"Tony." She breaths out. With a a second glance she struck by how pale he looks, of course he's always been pale but he looks paler, his face completely drained of all color. His doe eyes are dim, weak and he stumbles forward falling to one knee as his hands are clenching at his abdomen. He pulls his hands away revealing to her his white t-shirt quickly staining with blood. She starts over to him, wanting to help him, to heal him. _

_Something thuds behind her and she whirls around in surprise which is quickly replaced by horror. "Damon!" He too is on one knee trying hard to push himself up into a standing position. She can't tell from so far away if he's bleeding as well but she can guess that he is as he clenches to his black t-shirt. "Adele." He chokes out and her eyes fill with tears, her fingers tangling into her blonde locks. _

_"I don't understand!" She yells out. "What's going on?" She squeezes her eyes shut forcing tears down her flushed cheeks._

"You've got to choose."_ Her eyes pop open at the sound of her subconscious. The voice sounding strangely like Jasmine. _"You can't have them both. Too truly give yourself to one you must let go of the other."

_"I can't!" She exclaims pulling at her hair in a show of frustration. _

"You already have."_ Her eyes land on Tony who has quickly lost consciousness before they move over to Damon who is struggling to stay up. _"It just up to you to realize it."

_"I do." Her voice is nothing more then a whisper. "I do." She says louder as her feet begin to carry her over without her true acknowledgement. As his back hits the grass she drops down beside him her hands reaching to put pressure on his bleeding wound. His eyes open, a grin stretching across his face. "Adele." _

_She lifts a hand, tracing bloody fingers across his cheek as she sends a matching grin down to him. "Damon."_

Her eyes spring open, her heart beating frantically against her rip cage as her eyes struggle to adjust to the darkness of the room.

"Mm." The arm wrapped loosely around her waist tightens pressing her bare back against a hard chest. "Your heart is racing. It's very distracting." His voice is rough, think with sleep.

"Sorry." She mumbles. "I had a...dream." She wanted to say bad, a bad dream but the dream hadn't actually been all that bad. It actually left her with a great deal of sudden relief.

He lets out a dramatic sigh shifting there positions in a way that she could feel him hovering slightly above her. "You seem to be having a lot of...dreams Kitten."

"I know." She sighs reaching up somewhat blindly to run her fingers over his lips. He hums in satisfaction, his eyes closing briefly. He has half a mind to ask her what it is she's been dreaming of as she cups the side of his neck pulling him down, her lips brushing against his cutting off whatever thought process he had. "I love you Damon."

A shudder runs through his body, his hand running along her bare thigh. "I'll never get tried of hearing you say that."

"Good." Her lips meet his softly in a kiss that leaves her tingling from head to toe as she pulls way. "Because I'm never going to stop saying it."


	39. Sequel Information

I present to you all the information you've been waiting for. :p

**Lose Myself****  
><strong>_**Vampire Diaries Fic  
><strong>__**Damon/OC  
><strong>__**Summary: **_"Sometimes I just wish that our life could be normal." She whispers reaching blindly for him in the darkness of the room. "This is normal." He responds, catching her hands in his as she scoffs. "This is our normal Kitten and I wouldn't have it any other way." Damon/OC. Sequel to What Doesn't Kill You  
><em><strong>Rated T<br>**__**Romance/Drama**_

_**First OC:**_

**Name: **Adele Gilbert**  
>Appearance:<strong> Blonde hair down to her mid back, stunning blue eyes, 5'6, sunkissed skin, toned from years of running and working out, slim and curvy.  
><strong>Age: <strong>18**  
>Parents:<strong> Adoptive: Grayson and Miranda Gilbert. (Deceased) Biological: John Gilbert (Deceased), Isobel Flemming. (Deceased)  
><strong>Siblings:<strong> Elena Gilbert (Biological, Twin), Jeremy Gilbert (Adoptive)  
><strong>Best Friends:<strong> Caroline Forbes (Vampire), Tyler Lockwood (Werewolf), Jasmine Reed (Witch), Michael Landon (Vampire), Damon Salvatore (Vampire), Stefan Salvatore (Vampire)  
><strong>Love Interset:<strong> Damon Salvatore (Vampire)

_**Second OC: **_

**Name**: Jasmine "Jazzy" Reed**  
>Age: <strong>17**  
>Appearance: <strong>Raven black hair down to her hips, sage green eyes, 5'3, thin, curvyish, pale skin.  
><strong>Parents: <strong>Kelly and Hunter Reed**  
>Siblings: <strong>None**  
>Best Friends: <strong>Adele Gilbert**  
>Boyfriend:<strong> Michael Landon

_**Third OC: **_

**Name: **Michael "Micky" Landon**  
>Age: <strong>19**  
>Appearance: <strong>Golden Blonde shaggy hair, black eyes, 6'3, pale skin.**  
>Parents: <strong>Julia and Bobby Landon**  
>Siblings: <strong>Jackie Landon  
><strong>Best Friends: <strong>Adele Gilbert, Nathaniel Keller (Vampire)  
><strong>Girlfriend: <strong>Jasmine Reed (Witch)

_**Forth OC: **_

**Name: **Justin Taylor**  
>Age: <strong>21  
><strong>Appearance: <strong>Brunette hair short usually spiked in the front, light green eyes, 6'2, lean, strong, tanned skin, a tattoo on his inner right wrist of his sisters name.  
><strong>Parents: <strong>Earl and Melissa Taylor (Deceased)**  
>Siblings: <strong>Corrie Taylor (Deceased)**  
>Best Friends: <strong>Nathaniel Keller (Vampire)**  
>Notes: <strong>He's the nephew of James Taylor, a hunter bent on getting Adele to join his Vampire hunters society.

_**Fifth OC:**_

**Name: **Nathaniel "Nate" Keller**  
>Age: <strong>22 but stuck at 19 having been turned at that age.**  
>Appearance: <strong>Dark brunette hair almost black slightly shaggy, dark brown eyes also almost black, 6'4, lean with narrow hips, pale skin.**  
>Parents: <strong>Luke and Lynn Keller**  
>Siblings: <strong>Ryan Keller, Heather Keller  
><strong>Best Friends: <strong>Justin Taylor (Hunter or Ex-Hunter? ;o), Michael Landon (Vampire)**  
>Love Interest: <strong>There maybe one in the future.

The first chapter will be uploaded sometime tonight. I'm working on proof reading it now.

Thank you all for all the support. Your amazing.


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